12-21-2017, 09:08 PM
(12-21-2017, 06:54 PM)PhilHos Wrote: The article was too long for me to read, but I probably wasn't going to read it after it assumed that because many evangelicals voted for Moore that somehow means they were fine with him being a pedophile.
First off, while the evidence does seem rather credible and if you want my opinion he probably is one, Moore has not been proven to have been a pedophile (or whatever the correct word is).
Secondly, and more importantly, most people vote on more than one issue. Most people vote for a candidate even when that candidate sucks if they feel the other candidate is worse in some way.
I do not disagree with any of this at all.
(12-21-2017, 06:54 PM)PhilHos Wrote: Lastly, I may come back and re-read it, but I will say this: I've often said the biggest enemy to Christianity is Christians. I may not agree with the articles examples (based on what parts I did read), but there are A LOT of examples of where Christians do things that are antithetical to the teachings of Jesus. And not just the Westboro Baptist Church jackholes, either, but regular "normal" Christians.
Based on this, you would agree with the premise of the article overall. I think the issue with this article, and the reason it got so off track n this thread, is it used these recent events as a rhetorical device to approach this in a peripheral way. Most people aren't going to accept an argument with a systematic, fact and logic, based approach. They are much more willing to accept an appeal to emotions. The problem is that he framed the argument in such a way that it immediately puts someone on the defensive if read in a certain way. Insiders, the people that would likely need to hear the message of the article, are the ones most likely to get turned off by the opening framing of the article.
It's why trying to critique religions, even from an insider position as the author of the article is coming from, is difficult. Peripheral approaches are the most effective way to go for any argument, but it can so easily go wrong when it comes to religion.
