Saturday, March 3, 2012

Fistbump of the Day - The OTF and Mocking Christ

Does John Loftus' Outsider Test For Faith (OTF) mocks Christ? No, not directory. But I want to point out that Mariano Grinbank has managed to point out a discontinuity between how the OTF is premised as a fact and how some Atheists actually function. Recently John Loftus posted "very well-written comment EricRC, a Ph.D. student in philosophy,:" in which the OTF's fundamental premise is stated and endorsed by Loftus himself:

(1) Rational people in distinct geographical locations around the globe overwhelmingly adopt and defend a wide diversity of religious faiths due to their upbringing and shared cultural heritage. This is the religious diversity thesis (RDVT).

Source

And then I saw a post by Mariano that explores why in Western Culture it is okay to denigrate and mock Jesus but not okay to mock and denigrate Muhammad.  Mariano observed:

Wait a moment, just when the New celebrity Atheists are attempting to get us to believe that Christianity is promulgated via nationality/ethnicity along comes Thompson claiming that Christianity has fewer ties to ethnicity. Suppose that one will let them fight it out.

That flies completely in the opposite direction and biases any directions or conclusions you might draw from the OTF. EricRC said himself and Loftus agree that the rest of the OTF follows from this disputed premise.  Mariano further observed:

Secularists understand very, very well what blasphemy feels like to someone who is a realist in their religious belief. That is the very reason that they besmirch, condemn, manipulate the media as the BBC does, and blaspheme. In fact, many secularists (atheists by any other name) have made a living by exploiting this knowledge and encouraging their adherents to do likewise.
Mariano makes a lot of valid points!

11 comments:

  1. Mocking and denigrating Mohammed is perfectly fine. He was a pedophile after all. Jesus was just a violent drunk :)

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  2. Now go to Afghanistan and say that in Kabul with a microphone. Oh and while you are at it, you can respond to this guy:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOYz4R2vEbk

    Let's see how brave you are.

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  3. How about you go to Amsterdam and do some street preaching to see how brave you are? False equivalency obviously, but I think you (hopefully) see the impracticality of your request.

    Also, you demonstrate that religious people, at the extreme, are violent idiots. I see you as a religious person at the extreme, but thankfully you're part of a culture that (hopefully) counter balances the violent idiocy.

    Can you summarize the youtube video as I have no interest in youtube apologists (or atheists for that matter).

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  4. How about you go to Amsterdam and do some street preaching to see how brave you are? False equivalency obviously, but I think you (hopefully) see the impracticality of your request.

    No, it's not impractical at all. The point is that you are too scared to go some place and insult Muhammad from any place except from behind a keyboard. I would not have to worry about street preaching in Amsterdam. It's not just a "false equivalency" it's pointless.

    And you don't really need to go to a Muslim country to test your mettle, you can just respond to the Muslims apologists on YouTube and tell them what you think of their prophet - with your name, address, and phone number. And dare them to do something about it.

    Won't do it? Then you have to admit that Mariano is making valid points.

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  5. No, it's not impractical at all.

    Hahahaha, yeah, not at all... You going to transfer $7000 to my paypal account for the airfair, pluss $3000 for incidentals? Let me know and I'll give you my email address...

    Also, since when are we talking about Muslim countries, and I quote...

    why in Western Culture it is okay to denigrate and mock Jesus but not okay to mock and denigrate Muhammad.



    you can just respond to the Muslims apologists on YouTube and tell them what you think of their prophet

    I've done this on other sites. There are a number of websites, TV shows and programs put on by activists that openly mock Mohammed, showing that you're above statement is demonstrably false.

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  6. I've done this on other sites. There are a number of websites, TV shows and programs put on by activists that openly mock Mohammed, showing that you're above statement is demonstrably false.

    Then maybe I should have been clearer. The BBC or the mass media would not openly mock Muhammad as they do Jesus and Christianity. That was what Mariano was getting at it. If you don't think your life is in danger....mock Islam on a bigger stage. Ask the South Park creators if there isn't a double standard. Bart Ehrman admitted that there was a double standard in his own work. And you did too. You are not worried about me killing you just because I disagree with you. It's not just because of this culture. It's because I know it doesn't matter what you think or say, even if it's stupid (and usually is) - Jesus wins.

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  7. Then maybe I should have been clearer.

    Maybe you should think clearer, one group deferring to another group, while other groups openly mock the group, definitely does not mean that you can make the blanket statement that "in Western Culture it is okay to denigrate and mock Jesus but not okay to mock and denigrate Muhammad.".

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  8. Maybe you should stop mocking and finally make good arguments. There is a double standard. Just because you are blind to it doesn't mean it is not there. Why not? There is much you are oblivious to.

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  9. I would agree there is a double standard, probably due to liberal ideas of diversity and multiculturalism that were big in the 90s, but I think we've seen that begin to errode since 9/11, even among liberals.

    But the existence of a double standard does not mean one can make the blatantly incorrect statement that "in Western Culture it is okay to denigrate and mock Jesus but not okay to mock and denigrate Muhammad.".

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  10. So you are nitpicking. You think the statement is too broad because you can blaspheme Jesus and Muhammad and no one has tried to kill you. Ok. I apologize for the broad statement. But have you considered that maybe you live to speak such stupidity because no one cares about what you say?

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  11. I was referring to people who matter in the public square. I'll make sure to be way more precise in the future.

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