Secularism Caused Isis---Never Mind That It Is A Non Sequitur Among Others.

[Solitary]

I have never seen so many logical fallacies in one very short article as this:

The Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins said today that the separation of church and state in the United States has contributed to the rise of Islamic extremist groups like ISIS, arguing in his radio commentary that ISIS has “filled the void left by secularism.” Non Sequitur.

According to Perkins, American ISIS militants wouldn’t have left the country to fight for the group if only the government had promoted Christianity over other faiths. Misusing Appeals to Authoritative Sources.

Where there is no vision, the people perish. Hello, this is Tony Perkins with the Family Research Council in Washington. Americans have been shocked to see the brutality and barbarism of the Islamic militants of ISIS, and they've been stunned by the revelations that radicalized Americans have joined their ranks and taken up their cause. Pundits and politicians alike have publicly pondered the question as to how young Americans can be sucked into such an evil venture. Prejudicial Language.

While it may be troubling, the answer is not hard. Radical secularism that has driven the defining characteristics of our Western culture, our Judeo-Christian heritage, from our schools, our entertainment and even our government has left in its place a void, a vacuum. And we should know from experience that a vacuum will be filled by something. Without a creedal vision that a society can unify around, the people, the nation, will perish. Unless we are content to allow ISIS or some other radical belief system to fill the void left by secularism, we must rediscover America's founding, Christ-centered vision. Slippery Slope.

- See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/perkins-separation-church-and-state-helps-isis#sthash.8qtktkZZ.dpuf

The whole article is a False Cause, Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc, and Hasty Generalization. So what's new from the radical right? Solitary

[Hydra009]

In other news, snow causes wildfire.  Film at 11.

[SGOS]

Theist reasoning, once again.

[SGOS]

In my late teens, I had a brief encounter with fundamentalism.  I was impressed by the way the minister of this certain church was so passionate.  I thought, here's some people that really sincerely believe, so I started going to that church. 

They needed to buy the property next to the church for a parsonage.  So they approached the owner who agreed to sell them the property and carry the paper himself at a very reasonable rate of interest.  Hooray for the church!  But here's the kicker; Keep in mind that I believed in God at the time: 

An hour later, the owner called back and said he would sell the property without interest.  The minister announced that this was an intervention by God.  He said he had talked it over with some of the elders, and they all agreed that God had influenced the seller.

OK, I believed there probably was a God, but I thought these people were idiots.  They may have had passion, but their was a huge void in their heads when it came to cause and effect.  Where's the thing in the link of circumstances you can identify as the cause for not requiring interest?  You have no idea what the owner of the land was thinking, and no matter what his line of reasoning was, it doesn't have to be God doing hocus pocus on him.  It could be a lot of reasons.  It's even possible he wanted to help out the church for no other reason than he was a nice guy.

But we see these Christian interpretations and arbitrarily assigning miracle causes to explain all kinds of shit, from why the car started on a cold morning, to why Grandpa got over his gout.  It's absurd.  These people reason like three year olds.  Just insert anything you want when you don't know why something turned out like it did.

And the really weird part about it, is that they're so damn proud of their ability to invent these answers out of thin air.