Posted on 12/01/2006 11:43:52 PM PST by Ethan Clive Osgoode
Back in 2004, Dave Fitzgerald gave an interesting speech at an atheist rally, where many atheists were gathered to foment about the "under God" bit in the Pledge, and other really important issues. Like a song which is played over and over (think Stairway to Heaven), sometimes louder, sometimes softer, atheists have sung this song a million ways. They've gotten a lot of mileage out of it, and Fitzgerald manifests this particular mental aberration real loud. First let's look at what he said...
let me offer a modest exercise to perhaps give those with a deep-rooted sense of Christian entitlement a sense of what we religious minorities experience. Now, this test – and it could work just as well using examples from Judaism or Buddhism, mind you -is what I like to call the Church of Satan test: Take any situation where establishment of religion might be in question, and ask this – how would a Christian feel if Satanists were given this same privileged position? Consider these hypothetical examples:In public schools, children are led in classroom pledges that include the line “one nation, under Beelzebub, the Prince of Lies.” (of course students are not forced to recite, but may simply listen in respectful silence while the rest of the class hails Satan as the source of their rights and freedoms)
For Halloween, City Hall is painted with a giant pentagram and sponsors a festive holiday diorama for the whole city featuring a (tasteful) blood sacrifice to the Devil.
School boards are pressured by satanic parents to insure that history textbooks stress the importance of Benjamin Franklin’s private sexual immorality and his personal Satanic values (from his Buckinhamshire Hell-Fire Club days).
Before the big game, the local High Priest of Satan leads the crowd in an invocation of the Dark Lord Lucifer and dedicates the game to the glory of “his Satanic Majesty.”
Christians (and other minority religions) are told to accept that the Salem Witch Trials, 200+ years of immorality, Ozzy Osbourne’s popularity, Harry Potter sales figures and current Islamic “Great Satan” rhetoric all prove that “America is a Satanic Nation, based on Satanic principles for a Satanic people.”
Are these extreme examples? If they seem so, it only shows how outrageous the privileges of Christianity seem to those of other faiths and of no faith who are marginalized by them.
Got that? This rehetorical device is easy to master. You don't even have to be an athiest - a dashing hi-IQ "Brite" - to use it yourself. In fact, it's the most convincing and most popular method of debate out there: beloved by liberals and Marxists too. It works like this. Someone tells you they think X is good. You merely replace X with some nasty, vile, unpleasant, or just plain silly Y. And that's the end of it. You've proven your case. All we have to do to prove that Christians are deluded is to substitute "Santa Claus", "Invisible Sky Pixie" or "Flying Spaghetti Monster" for "God". And there, rock solid proof that believers are dumb and atheists are shining genii. Or we can base our argument, as Fitzgerald does above, on the substitution of "Satanism" for "Christianity".
For example, let's argue that you shouldn't love your wife. Would you love your wife if your wife was Hillary Clinton? Would you love your wife if your wife was Penn Jillette plus some silicone? There, we've just proven our point, Fitzgerald-style, that you're a hypocrite if you love your wife. Furthermore, if the argument is applied the other way around, we can make a solid case for releasing criminals from jail. Why should criminals be locked up? Replace "criminals" with "innocent people". Do you think innocent people should have their freedoms taken away and rot in jail? Of course not, but it only shows how outrageous the privileges of law-abiding citizens seem to the criminals who get incarcerated by them.
In every liberal diatribe, and in every piece of atheist venom, you will spot this argument if you look for it. I'm sure those of a more satirical bent can think up many clever applications for this brilliant rock-solid line of freethinking logic.
ping for later
Huh?
Vile stupidity.
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How did you arrive at the proper number of ? marks?
I get the feeling that we dont get you
I hope I'm around when they try that with Islam.
The outcome will definitely not be what they hope for.
If you are a minority, that is a fact, not a marginalization.
Get it, get used to it, or get over it.
I'm going to pray for an answer to this thread....
Bump.
Yes, the athiest "argument" is so easy to dismantle it's pathetic.
This guy needs his head smacked back into position. Where does his right to spout this diatribe come from? Christian based law, nowhere else.
Before I read further, is he volunteering to be the human sacrifice for this "tasteful" blood sacrifice to the Devil?
Abortion is a ritual murder performed upon an altar of conceit before an idol of vanity...
I call this using freedoms/unalienable rights, granted by God, to attempt to destroy other freedoms/rights, granted in the same way. Happened oh so often under WJC, but the movement has been quiet, under W. Just as soon as liberals get any kind of control, Pandora's box opens to reveal a cornucopia of fools and, foolishness. The principle seems most evident where "gun control" is at issue.
My previous was meant to complement your excellent assesment of the situation. The point got lost in my rant.
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