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Not-so-amusing comic

Feedback 2003

We publish this feedback from D.S. of New South Wales, Australia to show how desperate some of Hugh Ross’s supporters can be, actually implying it was our fault that Ross produced degrading cartoons of a great Christian scholar and historian. A response from Dr Jonathan Sarfati immediately follows his letter, first in its entirety. The comments in the response are interspersed. Ellipses (…) at the end of D.S.’s statements signal that a mid-sentence comment follows, not an omission.


Not-so-amusing comic

I’d like to express my indignation at your most distasteful and deceitful portrayal of Hugh Ross and his comic on Ussher and the article by Sarfati …. This was a children's comic that is supposed to be amusing and not meant to be taken as a serious insult.

Ussher is long dead in any case. In portraying a 6000yr old Earth the [your ministry] is once again showing it's[sic] lack of regard for intellectual Integrity and their commitment to the young earth religion forces an abandonment of compassion for fellow christians. This was not the example of our Lord. I have not seen Mormonism treated in as shameful a way as this by the christian[sic] community. [Your ministry's] science and the way they treat other christians remains to be an embarrassment for the christian[sic] faith.

Their behaviour will be called in to judgement one day.


I'd like to express my indignation at your most distasteful …

How was my portrayal distasteful? I worked only from what Ross provided, so any distaste should be laid totally at his door.

… and deceitful …

Where was the deceit? Are you claiming that Ross’s comic didn’t draw those pics, so we are lying to claim he did? If not, then what?

It’s not the fault of Ross for producing those distasteful cartoons? Some Ross supporters have told me that Ross was indeed over the line here and would write to tell him so.

This was a children's comic that is supposed to be amusing and not meant to be taken as a serious insult.

So if we portrayed Hugh Ross in a dunce cap in our Answers for Kids section that would be acceptable?

Ussher is long dead in any case.

And that makes it OK to portray him as a dunce? Maybe some of the insulting garbage that passes for ‘art’ these days, e.g. degrading Mary and the Apostles, is OK as well because they are even longer dead?

In portraying a 6000yr old Earth the [your ministry] is once again showing it's [sic] lack of regard for intellectual Integrity

No lack of integrity has been demonstrated. On the contrary, we commonly get feedback from people who express their appreciation for the uprightness of our ministry. For example, this applies even when we have had to criticize our YEC brethren (see CMI commended for aiming for accuracy and Weathering the Storm). One non-Christian and non-creationist commended our site as ‘breath of fresh air’ in a recent feedback.

… and their commitment to the young earth religion …

We have a commitment to what the Bible clearly says, nothing more, while Ross has a commitment to an imaginary 67th book, ‘nature’, by which he means the uniformitarian interpretation of nature. See my documentation in Shame on Charisma!

… forces an abandonment of compassion for fellow christians.

I suppose portraying Ussher as a dunce, and by implication all young-earth believers, is the epitome of compassion?!

This was not the example of our Lord.

No, He would not have portrayed a principled Christian scholar as a dunce. Judging by the way He didn’t mince words with His enemies, He may well have rebuked Ross for his disgraceful cartoons, rather than ‘shooting the messenger’.

I have not seen Mormonism treated in as shameful a way as this by the christian community.

Quite—I’ve never seen Joseph Smith portrayed in a dunce cap. But to parallel this situation, the Mormons would have to portray a leading Christian apologist in a dunce cap, Christians exposing this, and then D.S. making out that the Christians are in the wrong for exposing it.

[Your ministry's] science and the way they treat other christians[sic] remains to be an embarrassment for the christian[sic] faith.

Not a single scientific error has been demonstrated. Nor has D.S. shown why we were in the wrong for exposing Ross’s disrespectful cartoons and why Ross was justified in ridiculing a top Christian scholar of the past. Furthermore, we have many Christians who tell us the exact opposite, e.g. Sonia’s Testimony. Creation magazine opened my eyes to the Gospel!A testimony and : ‘Joel Galvin’: Faith shipwrecked by compromising ‘Christian’ colleges; restored by creation ministry and ‘No excuse not to believe’ by Lita Sanders.

Their behaviour will be called in to judgement one day.

Indeed, ‘all things will be laid bare’. But at least on this matter my conscience is clear. In other areas where I have failed, my sins are covered by the Blood of Christ.

Published: 3 February 2006