Perhaps the only group of people who tend to distort facts more than Christians is non-Christians. Especially when discussing the Bible, non-believers usually don’t know what they’re talking about. This includes people with Ph.D.’s and whatnot.
Take the case of John Loftus, a man who thinks he’s debunking christianity and constantly waves about his Master’s degree in hopes of making people think he knows what he’s talking about. From time to time, I look over on his website to see what he’s up to.
In a recent post, he’s criticizing Islam and wonders how a particular man can reconcile his belief in Islam with the supposed fact that Genesis 1-11 contradicts what Scientists say. Now, I’m amazed that this is considered a valid criticism of Islam. He only gets away with saying this because he’s not actually talking about it with a Muslim.
Had he been talking with a Muslim, it might have gone something like this:
John: How can you think Islam is true when science has proved Genesis 1-11 to be false?
Muslim: Well, I wasn’t aware that science had proved Genesis 1-11.
John: Yep. They did. There’s scientists like Pat Robertson who say that Genesis can’t be true because the earth is billions of years old.
Muslim: And how’s that a problem? Most Christian theologians think that Genesis is not literal history, but rather an exposition of truth in epic form.
John: Those scholars are wrong! They’re just saying that to hide the fact that Genesis 1-11 is obviously a stupid error by primitive brutal barbaric Israelites!
Muslim: Okay. Let’s suppose that Genesis 1-11 was meant to be history, and that Richard Dawkins is right about scientific fact proving evolution. Have it your way. But how is that a problem for me? Genesis 1-11 is Christian scripture, not Muslim scripture.
John: No. Islam accepts Genesis 1-11 as God-inspired history, which shows that your religion is ignorant.
Muslim: No. I’m a Muslim. I know that Genesis is not and never has been a sacred text that Islams believe in.
John: Now you’re just exhibiting more of the lying and evil and hypocrisy that all religion consists of! I try to reason with you, and you simply dishonestly evade all my points without giving me the respect of admitting when your religion is wrong!
3 Comments
I try to ignore his site – don’t want to give him the hits, but I wish I would have caught this.
This is Loftus’ problem – he views everything through the lens of Christian fundamentalism.
Every day I try to think through the correct balance of, on the one hand, not giving attention to enemies of the gospel and, on the other hand, pointing out their falsehood to keep people from being deceived. The balance between the two is something I find to be a very subtle and difficult thing, and it reminds me of what Proverbs says in its apparently contradictory two verses:
Proverbs 26:4-5, “Do not respond to a fool according to his own foolishness, or else you become like him. Respond to a fool according to his own foolishness, or else he becomes wise in his own eyes.”
I probably stop by his site once every week or two. It is one of the most interesting ironies that Christian fundamentalism seems to be the primary viewpoint of atheists.
Very ironic, and very sad.