The Danger of Cheap Shots<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I was chatting with some Catholic friends, and (as happens more and more frequently as the election approaches) the subject of Mormons came up. \u00a0Which\" \/>\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\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/08\/the-danger-of-cheap-shots.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Danger of Cheap Shots\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I was chatting with some Catholic friends, and (as happens more and more frequently as the election approaches) the subject of Mormons came up. \u00a0Which\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/08\/the-danger-of-cheap-shots.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Unequally Yoked\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-08-17T16:45:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.lds-mormon.com\/veilworker\/garments.gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Leah Libresco\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Leah Libresco\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/08\/the-danger-of-cheap-shots.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/08\/the-danger-of-cheap-shots.html\",\"name\":\"The Danger of Cheap Shots\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-08-17T16:45:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-08-17T16:45:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464\"},\"description\":\"I was chatting with some Catholic friends, and (as happens more and more frequently as the election approaches) the subject of Mormons came up. \u00a0Which\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/08\/the-danger-of-cheap-shots.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/08\/the-danger-of-cheap-shots.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/08\/the-danger-of-cheap-shots.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Danger of Cheap Shots\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/\",\"name\":\"Unequally Yoked\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/17ee17592b35b40040d5f5f7ea5ab464\",\"name\":\"Leah Libresco\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/20e1e6a3a94c4e7928687804a41d888d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Leah Libresco\"},\"description\":\"Leah is the author of Arriving at Amen and Building the Benedict Option. 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{"id":4206,"date":"2012-08-17T12:45:26","date_gmt":"2012-08-17T16:45:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?p=4206"},"modified":"2012-08-17T12:45:26","modified_gmt":"2012-08-17T16:45:26","slug":"the-danger-of-cheap-shots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/08\/the-danger-of-cheap-shots.html","title":{"rendered":"The Danger of Cheap Shots"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I was chatting with some Catholic friends, and (as happens more and more frequently as the election approaches) the subject of Mormons<\/a> came up. \u00a0Which means you can pretty much set an egg-timer until someone says, \u201cNot to mention\u00a0magic underwear<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n

(I think in this case the elapsed time was about a minute thirty. \u00a0There\u2019s never an egg timer around when you need one<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/p>\n

The \u2018magic underwear\u2019 crack is pretty common (it\u2019s the featured visual on the billboards American Atheists are putting up for the party conventions<\/a>). \u00a0But I\u2019m pretty sure it\u2019s not anyone\u2019s true rejection<\/a>, especially for Christians. \u00a0So here\u2019s what you should keep in mind before \u2018magic underwear\u2019 comes out of your mouth between now and\u00a0November.<\/p>\n

Priests wear vestments (alb<\/em>-beit sometimes bad ones<\/a>) to celebrate Mass, without triggering the kind of ridicule Mormons attract for their temple garments. \u00a0So where\u2019s the difference that justifies the hilarity?<\/p>\n

Are vestments only sensible when worn\u00a0on top of<\/em> normal clothes; it\u2019s wearing them\u00a0under<\/em> clothes that\u2019s funny? \u00a0(cough, cough,\u00a0scapulars<\/em><\/a>, cough). \u00a0Or is it that it makes sense for\u00a0priests<\/em>\u00a0to do it, but not everyone else? \u00a0(Then you might want to remember that Mormons have a more expansive notion of the priestly vocation<\/a> than other Christians).<\/p>\n

And an incarnational faith probably wants to be careful about throwing stones at traditions that use physical practices<\/a> to help people<\/a> deal with the<\/a> abstract-feeling transcendent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You could make the argument that all ritual and tradition<\/em> is a warning sign, and it\u2019s just that Christianity has enough other kind of evidence on its side to overcome these red flags, but I think that\u2019s not a case any Christian can make with a straight face.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s the claim you\u2019re supporting when you attack Mormonism for its aesthetic\/ritual components instead of attacking the truth-claims it makes. \u00a0You\u2019re legitimizing any similar attacks on your own faith (\u201cI mean, what\u2019s with all that chanting?\u201d). \u00a0And you\u2019re being unfair to your opponent (whether or not they are present).<\/p>\n

Most people treat arguments like armies<\/a>, so you\u2019ve just given yourself points on the scoreboard you didn\u2019t earn, and you\u2019ve committed yourself to defending an objection you don\u2019t think has merit. \u00a0You\u2019ve confused the people you\u2019re trying to convince, and you\u2019ve weakened your greatest skill as a rationalist<\/a>: being more confused by fiction than reality. \u00a0You\u2019re training yourself not to notice bad arguments.<\/p>\n

So knock it off. \u00a0Unless you really think there is something off<\/em> about vestments and ritual. \u00a0Then you should notice you are confuse, try to track your confusion back to it\u2019s source, and see what you might need to change your mind about.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"