Some Christians on this site must be very, very correct indeed.
<< some Christians use unpopularity as a measure of the correctness of their theology >>
<< Some Christians on this site must be very, very correct indeed. >>
It's part of the game they play in their minds to never question the "rightness" of whatever cause they have embraced as the "Christian crusade" du jour. I have seen it in scores of discussion sites concerning religious topics -- and just about all the crevo discussions online.
Here's how it works:
1) Popularity and success of our "ministry" or "cause" is proof that our cause is right, that God is supporting it, that God is pleased with it, and that God is blessing our faithfulness. Doesn't seem to phase them to realize that causes they oppose and consider virtually Satanic are even more popular and successful.
2) UNpopularity and lack of success is proof that we are in the right, but that the enemy -- SATAN and his dupes -- are fighting tooth and nail to cause us problems. They use this argument even when the opponents causing such "damage" are their fellow Christians who believe their "cause" is dangerous and unbiblical.
The best thing about these two claims is that you will see people using them BOTH in the same argument! I call it their heads-I-win-tails-you-lose game.
Of course, logically -- the popularity or success of such causes is no evidence of their correctness or that God is blessing them because he is pleased with them. That is a logical fallacy known as "argumentum ad populum" -- the argument "to the people," or the argument based on popularity. The answer to this argument is to point out something they oppose that is experiencing great success, popularity, and seeming "blessings from God" -- and ask them if the same argument applies.
Of course -- UNpopularity of an idea is no argument for its rightness OR wrongness. What counts is the actual evidence -- which one side in THIS argument always manages to avoid. Their arsenal seems to consist almost entirely of taking put shots at the evidence from the other side -- evidence they reveal almost total ignorance about.
When we point out this fallacy to them, they then come back with the accusation that we are using the same arguments about popularity of the "cause" when we point out that the overwhelming majority of biologists accept the theory of common descent and consider creationism patent anti-scientific nonsense.
They will throw this accusation at us, while at the same time, trumpeting the polls showing how many Americans "do not believe that we came from monkeys" or some such nonsense. They can't seem to get their minds around the idea that the vast majority opinion of biologists is entirely relevant to this discussion -- while the opinions of millions of people who have no clue about the theory are meaningless -- especially considering that so many of them have GOTTEN their weird ideas about the theory from the straw men dished out by creationists, and from the fact that evolution is so poorly addressed in the schools.