Goodbye, Ray

To Mr Ray Comfort
From the entire Raytractors community

Originally started as a means to mobilise and bring together those who oppose the misinformation, dishonesty and wilful ignorance promoted by your good self, this group very quickly grew into a large and diverse community. Composed of individuals with no common thread other than their response to you, they grew exponentially, attracting like-minded and not-so-like-minded people from across the net.

But all things must come to an end...

Their time had come. As the blog died, remaining only as a fossil testament to what once was, the individuals who made up this community walked away from the one who inspired them, who caused their community to exist in the first place. As time went on, they found that they could not confine their criticism to one man: the sheer irrationality that he embodied was not his alone. Their very name, the banner they went under, was limiting them.

And so, they changed. Their identity could no longer support who and what they were, so they adapted, evolving into something different at a glance but the same at heart. They built a new environment more conductive to discussion and communication than the blog they had for so long run in tandem to your own, and they named themselves anew, that all who saw them would see and understand that they were not the mere detractors of one purveyor of lies, but the opponents of all those who would use misinformation, pseudoscience and intellectual dishonesty to promote bigotry and hate amongst those who are unable to establish truth for themselves.

They drafted a letter, in third person and in past tense because it sounded impressive and important, and they sent it to the one who had brought them together in the first place. In this document, they announced their newfound independence, and wished Mr Comfort the best in the future. Although they would continue to read and comment on the words uttered by this one, they no longer defined themselves by him, and they would exist as an entity separate from him. They again extended the same invitation to him and his followers that they had previously: if any of you wish for an honest and free exchange of ideas and opinions, without the censorship, format and rules designed to stifle inquiry and prevent individuals from providing evidence and support for their opinions, then you are welcome to join us at the new venue, which you can access from the old BlogSpot. You will be welcomed with open arms by those who used to be the Raytractors.

And so, in a final act of dramatic timing, they signed off with the name they had chosen for themselves, their new identity, which identified them not as your detractors... but as something more.

Goodbye Ray. And thank you for bringing us together.

SMRT.
Skeptical Minds and Rational Thinkers.
http://www.wearesmrt.com/bb/index.php