Hey, we’re going to find out for sure this week if God exists. Actor Kirk Cameron, former star of Full House and current star of various film adaptations of the Left Behind series of novels, and his partner, evangelist Ray Comfort, say they will “prove God’s existence, absolutely, scientifically, without mentioning the Bible or faith” on Nightline, after debating the organizers of the Blasphemy Challenge, an online event that urges participants to post web videos of themselves denying the existence of God. Nightline apparently devoted time to the Challenge earlier this year (and if I had to bet, I would guess that ABC News, knowing who its viewers are, didn’t like it one damn bit). Friday night is the big night, so cancel your plans and stay in.

Cameron and Comfort got plenty of publicity last year when they claimed to have proved intelligent design in 60 seconds by using a banana. They didn’t, of course. Their supposedly ironclad proof can be debunked in less than 60 seconds even by someone with an imperfect knowledge of the process of natural selection. What made the debunking even more satisfying was the way Comfort and Cameron looked so goddamn dumb sitting there with looks of utter satisfaction on their faces, unaware that their “atheist’s nightmare” could be debunked even by someone with an imperfect knowledge of the process of natural selection.

Short of “the Bible says it and that makes it so” (which is the ground on which Cameron and Comfort eventually end up standing regardless of what they claim), there’s no quick and easy brief either for or against God’s existence. But if you’ve got the time for a longer one, visit the unique new website called “Why Won’t God Heal Amputees?” The name isn’t a joke. It’s the basic premise for a detailed proof of the ineffectiveness of prayer and ultimately, the non-existence of God. And with a quasi-religious war creating amputees by the dozens, the question provides a very timely way to think about the issue.