The Infallibility Trap

A claim of infallibility is like a pool of quicksand. All it takes a single mistake to prove the claim is bogus, so every error must be denied, rationalized, hidden. As the mistakes accumulate, the apologist sinks deeper and deeper into incoherence.

For example, why do you think it took so long for the catholic church to pardon Galileo for heresy? Its because by declaring the heliocentric theory to be heretical, they were not just claiming it to be wrong as a matter of fact, but as a matter of doctrine in which they claim infallibility. They knew full well that to admit their mistake would be to admit that the church is not infallible in matters of doctrine. Can't have that. Better to wait a while and hope your followers won't notice. Three hundred years or so should do it. If you're hoping for the catholic church to change its position on birth control, gay marriage, or anything else, don't hold your breath. Once they've taken a position as doctrine, to change it would create an existential crisis.

The biblical literalists are even deeper in the quicksand. The level of insanity required to maintain a belief that the bible is inerrant is staggering. They have to deny biology, geology, astronomy, physics, history, logic and math. That's serious work. Most christians are too lazy for that. When pressed, its much easier to play the "its a metaphor" card or whine that people are being mean to you.

Television "prophets for profit" fall into the infallibility trap all the time. But they never seem to notice, presumably because their followers are too stupid to notice. Pat Robertson is a prime example. He makes predictions on a fairly regular basis. As far as I know, they've all been wrong. He has claimed that he has a pretty good track record, but that sometimes he misses. Now, if Pat Robertson is coming up with these predictions on his own, he'd be entitled to brag if he were right even once in a while. But he says the predictions are coming from god, so anything less than batting 1000 is a complete failure. Not that he cares. He'll keep cranking out the bullshit as long as idiots keep sending in the cash.

But perhaps I'm being too hard on the televangelists. After all, Jesus himself made the same mistake. Jesus predicted that he would return within the lifetime of some of his disciples. It didn't happen. Therefor Jesus was not infallible and therefor not divine. You'd think the church would have dropped this inconvenient bit out as they were establishing their canon. I guess that answers the question of how stupid the church leaders thought their followers are. To be fair, it turns out they were right on that point.

Talking About Baseball

If you're openly atheist, sooner or later you'll come across someone who takes your mere existence as a personal affront. For a while I was surprised by this reaction. After all, why should what I believe or not believe matter to someone else? But the more I thought about it, the more it makes sense.

Imagine a group of Red Sox fans are discussing baseball and they ask you "what's your team?" Whether you answer the Red Sox, Brewers, or Yankees will greatly affect the following conversation, but there will still be a conversation. If you say "I don't really follow baseball," they'll probably just continue talking amongst themselves.

Now imagine how things would go if you announced "baseball is a load of crap." That's basically what many religious people hear when you tell them you're an atheist. They have invested a significant part of their personal identity in a particular religion and you're not just saying you prefer another team. You're saying the whole game is bullshit to the core. There are times when you shouldn't say things like that.

Then again, there are times when you should.

Because its true.

I am Spartacus!

Just another atheist starting a blog...