Faithist Memes, Religious Privilege, Victimization, and Bad Arguments

[Ian David]

Faithist Memes, Religious Privilege, Victimization, and Bad Arguments

Lately, I have had a couple in-depth conversations with friends of mine who are believers about belief in God. To their credit, the debates were mature, without so much of the self-victimization and underhanded straw men that believers often use. But, some were still evident, so I thought I’d write about some of the faithist memes and myths that have been quite prevalent in society lately and my thoughts on them. These are all “points” that are used to defend and protect religious beliefs. (For the record, YES, these are generalizations, and if you don’t subscribe to the meme, then I’m not talking about you, and if you do, then YES, I am!)

“It’s true because I believe it.” – The “Truth” Meme.

This might sound like a simple everyday understanding, but it’s definitely a faithist meme. It’s a suspension of reality. It’s saying, “It doesn’t matter what else is true, this will always be true because I choose to call it truth.” Yeah, I said choose. Belief is a choice. You choose what you believe, and by the power of this meme, you get to choose your truth. You see it used as a defense over every social issue. Fundamentalists say they know what traditional marriage is (even though marriage has changed many times over its history), they know when life begins (even though there is no actual way of objectively determining such a thing), etc. But they don’t know, there is no truth or fact, they just believe.

More:
http://zackfordblogs.com/2009/05/17/faithist-memes-religious-privilege-victimization-and-bad-arguments/


Cross-posted from:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=214&topic_id=208710&mesg_id=208710

[Warpy]

1. Nicely set out

but don't expect the faithful to understand the nuance of respecting their right to believe whatever they want to while disrespecting that belief itself as utter twaddle.

They'll always manage to be deeply wounded if we try to explain it.

[Ian David]

2. Well, it's because they're stupid.

I'm kidding.

Geesh.


They also can't take a joke.

But seriously, if you want to see some good modeling of how Atheists can politely find common ground with Theists and other deluded folks People of Faith, see this:

http://www.truthdriventhinking.com/