{"id":309,"date":"2011-03-06T18:14:00","date_gmt":"2011-03-06T18:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/03\/dont-rush-to-judge\/"},"modified":"2011-03-06T18:14:00","modified_gmt":"2011-03-06T18:14:00","slug":"dont-rush-to-judge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/03\/dont-rush-to-judge.html","title":{"rendered":"Don&#8217;t RUSH to Judge"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both;text-align: center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/-6Sh0HauXdkU\/TXQSWJmNITI\/AAAAAAAAAwA\/1-jO5AuVzp4\/s1600\/Rush2112RedStarmanLogo.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/-6Sh0HauXdkU\/TXQSWJmNITI\/AAAAAAAAAwA\/1-jO5AuVzp4\/s320\/Rush2112RedStarmanLogo.jpg\" width=\"213\"><\/a><\/div>\n<p>I had someone who described himself as a recovering fundamentalist write to ask me a question about a topic that is not entirely outside of my field of expertise, but is nevertheless one in which I have no formal training and about which others are far more qualified than I am.<\/p>\n<p>The question was about the band <i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Classic-Albums-Moving-Pictures-Blu-ray\/dp\/B003Z6HRUM?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=jamefmcgrshom-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">Rush<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" height=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=jamefmcgrshom-20&amp;l=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969&amp;o=1&amp;a=B003Z6HRUM\" style=\"border: none !important;margin: 0px !important;padding: 0px !important\" width=\"1\"><\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>Specifically, the individual in question had been a fan of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/2112-Rush\/dp\/B000001F84?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=jamefmcgrshom-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">Rush<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" height=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=jamefmcgrshom-20&amp;l=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969&amp;o=1&amp;a=B000001F84\" style=\"border: none !important;margin: 0px !important;padding: 0px !important\" width=\"1\">, but was told in their fundamentalist days that the symbol sometimes seen on Rush paraphernalia was a pentagram and indicated ties to Satanism.<\/p>\n<p>A little prior knowledge coupled with\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/forum.objectivismonline.net\/index.php?showtopic=3538\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">a<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.erikandanna.com\/Rush\/history_of_rush.htm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">little<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jimdero.com\/News2002\/GreatJan272112.htm\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">research<\/a> quickly debunked the idea to my satisfaction.<\/p>\n<p>First, a quick look at the image and some of the distinctive features of the pentagram can be seen to be missing. Second,\u00a0what the red star most closely resembles (a Communist emblem) turns out to be a far more likely source of inspiration, given the statements by Neil Peart that the star image represents collectivism. And finally, since the star is the symbol of the bad guys against whom the hero of the story stands in the concept album <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/2112-Rush\/dp\/B000001ESF?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=jamefmcgrshom-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">2112<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" height=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=jamefmcgrshom-20&amp;l=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969&amp;o=1&amp;a=B000001ESF\" style=\"border: none !important;margin: 0px !important;padding: 0px !important\" width=\"1\">, if it were a pentagram, then making that a symbol of the bad guys would not be naturally interpreted as indicating ties with satanism or magic.<\/p>\n<p>To share something from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/2112-Rush\/dp\/B000001ESF?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=jamefmcgrshom-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">2112<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" height=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=jamefmcgrshom-20&amp;l=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969&amp;o=1&amp;a=B000001ESF\" style=\"border: none !important;margin: 0px !important;padding: 0px !important\" width=\"1\"> (the album on which the imagery first appeared) at this point would be thoroughly predictable. And so I will stand against the forces of collectivism and share <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sing365.com\/music\/lyric.nsf\/You-Bet-Your-Life-lyrics-Rush\/E753D93B5A76949D48256BBF00350817\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">something else by Rush<\/a>.. <\/p>\n<div class=\"blogger-post-footer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/7622297540113836091-2921314257282990720?l=exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\" alt=\"\"><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I had someone who described himself as a recovering fundamentalist write to ask me a question about a topic that is not entirely outside of my field of expertise, but is nevertheless one in which I have no formal training and about which others are far more qualified than I am. The question was about [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Don&#039;t RUSH to Judge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I had someone who described himself as a recovering fundamentalist write to ask me a question about a topic that is not entirely outside of my field of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/03\/dont-rush-to-judge.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Don&#039;t RUSH to Judge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I had someone who described himself as a recovering fundamentalist write to ask me a question about a topic that is not entirely outside of my field of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/03\/dont-rush-to-judge.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-03-06T18:14:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/-6Sh0HauXdkU\/TXQSWJmNITI\/AAAAAAAAAwA\/1-jO5AuVzp4\/s320\/Rush2112RedStarmanLogo.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ReligionProf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James F. McGrath\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/03\/dont-rush-to-judge.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/03\/dont-rush-to-judge.html\",\"name\":\"Don't RUSH to Judge\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-06T18:14:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-03-06T18:14:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\"},\"description\":\"I had someone who described himself as a recovering fundamentalist write to ask me a question about a topic that is not entirely outside of my field of\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/03\/dont-rush-to-judge.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/03\/dont-rush-to-judge.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/03\/dont-rush-to-judge.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Don&#8217;t RUSH to Judge\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/\",\"name\":\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath\",\"description\":\"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf\",\"name\":\"James F. McGrath\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James F. McGrath\"},\"description\":\"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5\",\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf\",\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Don't RUSH to Judge","description":"I had someone who described himself as a recovering fundamentalist write to ask me a question about a topic that is not entirely outside of my field of","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/03\/dont-rush-to-judge.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Don't RUSH to Judge","og_description":"I had someone who described himself as a recovering fundamentalist write to ask me a question about a topic that is not entirely outside of my field of","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/03\/dont-rush-to-judge.html","og_site_name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","article_published_time":"2011-03-06T18:14:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/-6Sh0HauXdkU\/TXQSWJmNITI\/AAAAAAAAAwA\/1-jO5AuVzp4\/s320\/Rush2112RedStarmanLogo.jpg"}],"author":"James F. McGrath","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ReligionProf","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James F. McGrath","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/03\/dont-rush-to-judge.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/03\/dont-rush-to-judge.html","name":"Don't RUSH to Judge","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-03-06T18:14:00+00:00","dateModified":"2011-03-06T18:14:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf"},"description":"I had someone who described himself as a recovering fundamentalist write to ask me a question about a topic that is not entirely outside of my field of","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/03\/dont-rush-to-judge.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/03\/dont-rush-to-judge.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2011\/03\/dont-rush-to-judge.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Don&#8217;t RUSH to Judge"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/","name":"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath","description":"The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/78342576667b872e3d259c153ce4c5bf","name":"James F. McGrath","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88ca096942acd474313f7ef4227a49da?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"James F. McGrath"},"description":"Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. BD University of London, PhD Durham University. Author of John's Apologetic Christology, The Only True God, Theology and Science Fiction, and The Burial of Jesus, as well as (with Charles Haberl of Rutgers University) the two-volume Mandaean Book of John critical edition, translation, and commentary. Also author of numerous articles (and a few science fiction short stories) and the editor or co-editor of several volumes.","sameAs":["https:\/\/amzn.to\/3Ge8ul5","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/religionprof\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/jamesfmcgrath\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jfmcgrat\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/ReligionProf","http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/religionprof","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/James_F._McGrath"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/author\/james-f-mcgrath"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}