All bigoted beliefs by definition defy the consistency of reality, that is – logic. Thus, wherever you encounter bigotry, hypocrisy is not far.
Religion, as a subset of bigotry, is by necessity one of the most fertile grounds for hypocrisy.
Not that I care for this person’s blog at all, and not to pick on the guy in particular, but this is the kind of stuff that you always need to look out for to sniff out moral corruption, hypocrisy and irrationality at its core.
Here the guy kindly instructs the reader on All About Logical Fallacies. In particular he enlightens the reader about the following:
Argumentum ad populum: This common logical fallacy relies on the fact that “everybody” believes it or accepts it as true, therefore it is true. It can also be used to replace specific authorities with a more collective “all scientists”, “all politicians”, “all reasonable people” claim.
Illogical Ian: I know its true, because everyone says its true!
Logical Leo: I don’t think it’s true. So since everyone doesn’t say it’s true, it must not be true, then?
Illogical Ian: Well, most reasonable people say its true!
Logical Leo: It wasn’t too long ago that most reasonable people though that slavery wasn’t a terrible idea.
Illogical Ian: That’s a different thing man…
Logical Leo: And not too long ago, the vast majority of the American public supported the invasion of Iraq.
Illogical Ian: Hold on…
Logical Leo: I can give you plenty of examples where public opinion, or the opinion of a large group of any people, turned out to be wrong. In fact, I can only say with certainty that no one knows everything, or really, anything. At some point, some part of their understanding will be proven wrong. Hopefully, at that point, they will embrace the new understanding and logic. Either that, or leave themselves behind on the dustbin of history.
So far so good. The claim that something is true because many reasonable people think it is, is a rampant fallacy indeed. Thus our friend from above justly cautions:
If you use any of the logical fallacies below, you are embracing deception and lies. Pay attention to this and rid yourself of all logical fallacies.
Awesome! Great! Yay! Let’s see how consistently he applies his own preachings.
In this post he writes about Eye Witness Accounts from 2000+ years ago which supposedly constitute convincing evidence about the truth of claims in the Bible, all based on Lee Strobel’s “The Case For Christ”.
Aside from the fact that I can’t wait for this guy to act consistently and also make the same case for Zeus, Hera, and 10,000+ other gods from long gone superstitions, based on their “eye-witness accounts”, another person wrote a comment about this post:
There is absolutely no substantive, rational evidence provided by Strobel to support the divinity of Christ or miracles performed. Likewise, to claim that the four gospels provide an accurate portrayal of Christ when a number of alternative gospels were suppressed by the early church is amusing at best.
… to which the author replied with what he considers evidence, in particular he said this:
Hundreds of millions of people worldwide have attempted to follow Jesus, and have received some sort of divine manifestation that his teachings are true and that he is, indeed, all that he claimed to be in the Bible. Prove that these hundreds of millions of people are lunatics, liars, or frauds.
Sounds familiar, Illogical Ian, doesn’t it?
Now, I’m sure the guy is currently busy as hell, ridding himself of this logical inconsistency, just as he cautioned his readers to do.
Because, as we all know, it’s important to practice what you preach, right? Right?? =)
I’ve got a reply for you: http://fwcon.wordpress.com/2011/01/04/argumentum-ad-populum-and-religion/
Bottom line: When trying to recreate the events of the past, witnesses are the most valuable resource, but they are not infallible. If you want real religion, you need to start by discovering Christ for yourself. This is the only logical, reasonable, and sure foundation.
OK, I will use your exact same method for determining truth from falsehood then.
Today the Pastafarian Spaghetti Monster appeared before me. It told me that it is said monster who is the only God to be worshiped and all other Gods, including the supposed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, are false Gods and don’t exist.
So I guess Christianity is disproved then …
FYI, I will now stop posting any of your comments that either obviously and blatantly contradict 100% everything that you said before (without you at least acknowledging it) or that obviously fail to establish a universally logical and empirical basis for your claims, or at least a universally logical and empirical basis against my claims.