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<\/a><\/p>\nI remember having a back-and-forth with a Christian about the violence historically committed by Christians: the early persecution of heretics, the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the European \u201cWars of Religion,\u201d slavery in the Americas, up to the bombings of abortion clinics and the killing of doctors who perform abortions. \u00a0His response, which has stuck with me to this day, was \u201cdon\u2019t compare the best of your tradition with the worst of mine.\u201d \u00a0This comment really made me think. \u00a0He was not exempting \u201cChristianity\u201d from its cruel past. \u00a0He did not say, \u201cwell, they were not\u00a0actual<\/em> Christians,\u201d or \u201cthat was not Christianity, it was culture and politics.\u201d<\/p>\nWhat his statement reveals (regardless of how you view the word \u201ctradition\u201d) is a willingness to look at one\u2019s social group and not try to sanitize it with excuses. \u00a0It\u2019s a courageous acceptance of the evils that can, and do, exist in every social group. \u00a0And for all of our personal investments in making the groups we are a part of look moral and healthy, this ownership and admission was surprisingly disarming.<\/p>\n
No True Scotsman<\/strong><\/p>\nUsually, when someone brings up an evil enacted by a member of group x, self-identifying members of group x will say \u201che was not\u00a0really<\/em> a member of our group, which is obvious, because no member of our group could do such a thing.\u201d \u00a0This escapism, justified under the fear of caricature, is a way of avoiding the fact that maybe, just maybe, someone can be motivated by your views to do evil. \u00a0There certainly is a place to say \u201cthat is not what I think my group is about\u201d\u2013but to assume some lofty and essential view of your tradition that always escapes indictment, is to miss the fact that our groups and ideas are, as Nietzsche might say, \u201chuman, all too human.\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cIn the Name of\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\nMany self-identified members of one of my social groups, atheists, like to bring up the fact that Marx, Lenin, and Stalin, may have been atheists, but they did not enact their evils \u201cin the name of\u201d atheism. \u00a0This is supposed to be juxtaposed with religious persons who do these evils \u201cin the name of\u201d their religion. \u00a0Although I think there is something to this\u2013insofar as I think it would be easier to justify sacrificing your child by pointing to Genesis 22 than by pointing to Bertrand Russell\u2019s \u201cWhy I am Not a Christian\u201d\u2013I cannot help but recoil at the notion that there are clearly delineated, almost perspicuous, groups, to commit something \u201cin the name of.\u201d \u00a0There are hodge-podges and clusters of similar and related groups, connected closely enough to be discernible, but not monolithic by any means. \u00a0Just as there are multiple competing atheisms, there are also multiple competing Christianities, Islams, and Judaisms. \u00a0Similarly, one member of a group does not represent what the group does. \u00a0Sam Harris does not represent all atheists, Pope Benedict XVI did not represent all Catholics, and the Dalai Lama does not represent all Buddhists.<\/p>\n
Generalizing and the Problem of Induction\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nSince there are many varieties and forms which ideologies can take, we know the importance of not generalizing and committing the inductive fallacy. \u00a0Hume rightly pointed out the unease by which people go from particulars to generals. \u00a0For instance, not all Irishmen are drunkards, not all Hindus are violent, not all Christians are irrational, and not all atheists are pretentious. \u00a0Even though some Irishmen are drunkards, some Hindus are violent, some Christians are irrational, and some atheists are pretentious, it does not follow that \u201cmost\u201d or \u201call\u201d of them are. \u00a0This is why it is always important to qualify and particularize your criticisms. \u00a0Such as, this person, at this time, identifying as this, committed x. \u00a0How we want to extrapolate or interpret this particular involves a lot of nuance and sophistication. \u00a0This does not, however, exempt every person or ideology from critique.<\/p>\n
So while it is important to be watchful and diligent in our critiques, it does not follow that our groups are always exempt from criticism. \u00a0Let\u2019s not let our investments in our groups create an idol of our group. \u00a0We can admit that some people do horrible things with our beliefs and that there is such a thing as \u201cthe worst of our tradition.\u201d \u00a0
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I remember having a back-and-forth with a Christian about the violence historically committed by Christians: the early persecution of heretics, the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the European \u201cWars of Religion,\u201d slavery in the Americas, up to the bombings of abortion clinics and the killing of doctors who perform abortions. \u00a0His response, which has stuck with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1428,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[465,459,23,61,315,148,312,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-atheism-2","category-authority","category-community","category-culture","category-humanism","category-islam","category-politics","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n