"Ad homs" and why they don't matter

We're all painfully aware of the theists' black and white attitudes to morality (however twisted) and the way they insist that a person's character somehow dictates the veracity of their arguments about the (non) existence of a god, or gods. This is known as an ad hominem fallacy and it roughly translates as "you're a bad person and so you know sod all" or "I don't have to listen to you because you say things I think are immoral... lalalala talk to the hand!"

Luckily we're also quite aware of the old saying "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me." Well, at least I hope we all are. Otherwise I might be talking to a few precious souls who think that insults and swearing matter. They don't. Get over yourself already!

This is the problem we have. Recently someone on the atheist side of the fence was tagged as being a racist, or sexist, or both, I wasn't really paying attention, and so his arguments were deemed null and void on the theist side. A classic ad hominem fallacy. We've all said things in the past which we regret, and I suspect that if half the stuff we think were to be broadcast we'd all be in the mire up to our necks, or personae non grata within our own communities. Such is the way of things. None of us are completely free of bias, or prejudice in our daily lives. How else do you size someone up?

Hopefully most of us are completely accepting of the big things, like LGBT rights, anti-racism, anti-bullying, anti-bigotry etc, and write off swearing at the moron who cut us up on the dual-carriageway as a blip in an otherwise flawless personality. But, would it matter a bit to the argument for God's existence if I were a racist arsehole? If I thought that the evidence for God's existence is insubstantial and therefore unproven, which it is, would being a "nigger-hater"* matter a jot as far as the debate goes?

No. Emphatically NO!

You see, it's time we stopped worrying about what people on the side of irrationality and nonsense think of us. They're not thinking clearly. Remember. They think a god exists. They're not being honest with themselves, so why would we consider what they think of us to be relevant?

What matters is the honesty of the discussion, not who's having it. Remember that according to legend, Socrates was convicted of a crime for which he received a death sentence, but nobody is writing off the Socratic Method of questioning as a dud are they?

Frankly the theists can say what they like about me. In fact I encourage them to defame me as much as they like. Perhaps they'll come up with something I've not heard from anyone else before... I doubt they'll come close to anything I've said of myself.

Our call to them should be a simple one... say whatever you want about us, as long as you're honest in the debate and everything will eventually work out.

As long as we remember to not make the same mistakes they do and try to avoid calling them names, or writing off their arguments as invalid just because they are paying money to institutions which may actively promote science denial, child abuse, abuse of civil and women's rights and hatred of gays.




*a hypothetical argument

Fundamentalists Are Confusing

Have you ever wondered why Fundamentalists go around making other people believe the way they do, often at the point of a sword, or the barrel of a gun?

Why is this?

If you believe that your god is the four-Os then this has to be what you think:

1. Your god is omniscient therefore it/he/she knows everything there is to know about everything... including ALL of your thoughts, aspirations, dreams, ideas and beliefs - good and bad.

2. Your god is omnibenevolent so everything that happens will eventually, even if you can't see it from your limited perspective as a human being, turn out for the best, according to your god's grand plan.*

3. Your god is omnipresent, so that along with his omniscience he is everywhere, at all times in the present, future and past. Your god is in everything, everywhere all at once.

4. Your god is omnipotent so nothing at all can ever happen without it's knowing about it, and it can create anything at any time, move whatever needs moving effortlessly, and bend the laws of science to its will.

If you don't believe these things with all your heart then you're not a Fundamentalist and in essence you are some watered down version of the ideal follower of your god.

So, let's break this down a bit more. The Fundamentalist believes that her god is omnipresent and omniscient, yet she still prays to it. Why? If the god is truly all-knowing and ever-present there'd be no need whatsoever to utter a word of praise (if you cherished it truly), or utter a wish, or voice a thought, desire, need or idea. A god who literally knows everything you think, at all times and in all possible timelines, knows everything you could possibly think or say... so a prayer is, or can be interpreted as, a demonstration that you do not trust your god implicitly.

Further to that, if you think your god is perfect and all-powerful (omnipotent), then you must believe that everything is exactly the way your god wants it to be. Your god wants the Earth to be 4.54 billion years old. He wants it to be full of evolving organisms. He wants us to be sentient of our sentience. He wants a quarter of our population to be homosexuals, and he wants other people to have their own beliefs and ideas. So if you, for one second, think that any of these things are not true or not correct (sinful) then you are essentially telling your god that you, yes you, know better than him!

Given that Fundamentalists do still go around telling people that this and that is blasphemous and that their god dictates such and such, with absolutely no idea of what a god would even look like, never mind what it wants, then these people are not true believers at all! In fact, I'd go so far as to say that they believe the dogma, but reject the idea of their god entirely in favour of their own system of beliefs.

So the next time you see the work of one extremist group or another on the TV and someone says that they don't represent the particular religion they claim to represent, they might just have a point. If they were true Fundamentalists, then they'd be sitting at home with their children without a care in the world, minding their own business and looking after their friends and families. They'd be safe in the knowledge that everything was precisely the way their god wanted it to be and everything would turn out just fine as long as they were true to themselves and good to others.

That is a true Fundamentalist.


*I will cede that not everyone agrees that a god needs to be benevolent.