{"id":28321,"date":"2015-01-24T11:05:35","date_gmt":"2015-01-24T16:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/exploringourmatrix\/?p=28321"},"modified":"2015-01-24T11:05:35","modified_gmt":"2015-01-24T16:05:35","slug":"putting-the-con-in-conservative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2015\/01\/putting-the-con-in-conservative.html","title":{"rendered":"Putting the Con in Conservative"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Bible<\/p>\n

The God of Evolution Facebook page shared the above image. It reflects the\u00a0tactic to which the anti-science crowd, and other so-called Biblical literalists, have to resort in their attempt to dupe people.<\/p>\n

Depending on whether you think the figure on the left is supposed to be Satan, or just a mere human being, the tactic that many conservative Christians use is to depict their viewpoint as \u201cwhat God says,\u201d making whatever one says in disagreement with them at best \u201cmere human reasoning\u201d and at worst \u201cSatanic lies.\u201d<\/p>\n

But\u00a0the figure on the right is holding what is supposed to be a Bible. And the biggest fraud that conservative Christians have perpetrated is to pretend that the Bible is not a product of human authors and thus of human reasoning.<\/p>\n

And so the next time someone tries this tactic on you, be sure to call them on it. Don\u2019t let them frame the conversation in terms of \u201cwhat God says.\u201d Point out that they are relying on ancient humans and their reasoning. You might also want to point out that, in the process, they are treating those human words as though they are divine, which is idolatry. But even if you don\u2019t pursue that point, insist that they discuss the issue fairly, and explain to you why you should accept ancient\u00a0human claims rather than modern ones.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The God of Evolution Facebook page shared the above image. It reflects the\u00a0tactic to which the anti-science crowd, and other so-called Biblical literalists, have to resort in their attempt to dupe people. 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