UnrepentantSinner
A post by Alan Smithee
I realize I’m travelling a well-worn road, but I thought I’d just toss up a few bad apologies and see if anyone wants to discuss them.
1. Archaeology confirms the Bible.
First, let’s just state unequivocally that the first chapter of Genesis is in no way supported by biology, geology, paleontology or archaeology. Second, I don’t really see the value of this apologetic, as what archaeological finds have supported the Bible are claims of a mundane nature. So what? It’s fallacious to extrapolate from the fact that a non-supernatural claim finds support to the assertion that if they are true; the supernatural claims must be true as well.
My usual response to such claims is to ask the apologist if they have ever heard of Heinrich Schliemann. Most times they haven’t so I tell them that Schliemann used a copy of the Iliad to find the supposedly legendary city of Troy. Archaeology confirms the Iliad, ergo, we must conclude that Apollo and Aphrodite exist and that Achilles was invulnerable save his heel after being dipped in the river Styx. For some reason they scoff at my assertion.
2. In 1963 the Supreme Court outlawed school prayer and America has gone to hell ever since.
Ignoring the mythology of an America where every schoolchild joined their palms and bowed their heads to start each day (you can find that at Americans United ) let’s look at the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy.
For starters, if we’re setting dates for when America started going to hell, let’s look at the very next year – when the 1964 Civil Rights Act was passed. As Trent Lott so insightfully pointed out, we’d have a lot fewer social ills if this bill had never been passed. I think if we’re going to say that any particular event in the early 60s is leading to America’s folly, it would be this one.
What else happened in 1963? President Kennedy was killed. The societal woes of today are the result of a downward trend started after his assassination? JFK would have provided the nation with the vision and leadership to where instead of it just being a commercial a few years later, we all would have been standing on a grassy hilltop singing about giving Cokes to each other.
Hmmm, what else in 1963 or that era could have had an effect to America’s detriment. Involvement in VietNam was beginning, a war that would rip the country asunder for 10 more years of involvement and it would not be until the opening (and travels nation wide of a smaller version) of the VietNam Veteran’s Memorial until the healing would fully begin. American’s were leaving their porches as coming inside as both television and air conditioning become more prevalent – trends that continue to this day.
It is simplistic to say that America has gone “downhill” since 1963 and Abbington vs. Shemp was the sole cause. There are a myriad of factors that have caused social changes including television, the Internet and the urbanization (and sub-urbanization) of our population in addition to the only slightly sarcastically listed ones above. America has changed, for the better and for the worse and will continue to do so regardless of any single Supreme Court decision.
- more to follow
1. Archaeology confirms the Bible.
First, let’s just state unequivocally that the first chapter of Genesis is in no way supported by biology, geology, paleontology or archaeology. Second, I don’t really see the value of this apologetic, as what archaeological finds have supported the Bible are claims of a mundane nature. So what? It’s fallacious to extrapolate from the fact that a non-supernatural claim finds support to the assertion that if they are true; the supernatural claims must be true as well.
My usual response to such claims is to ask the apologist if they have ever heard of Heinrich Schliemann. Most times they haven’t so I tell them that Schliemann used a copy of the Iliad to find the supposedly legendary city of Troy. Archaeology confirms the Iliad, ergo, we must conclude that Apollo and Aphrodite exist and that Achilles was invulnerable save his heel after being dipped in the river Styx. For some reason they scoff at my assertion.
2. In 1963 the Supreme Court outlawed school prayer and America has gone to hell ever since.
Ignoring the mythology of an America where every schoolchild joined their palms and bowed their heads to start each day (you can find that at Americans United ) let’s look at the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy.
For starters, if we’re setting dates for when America started going to hell, let’s look at the very next year – when the 1964 Civil Rights Act was passed. As Trent Lott so insightfully pointed out, we’d have a lot fewer social ills if this bill had never been passed. I think if we’re going to say that any particular event in the early 60s is leading to America’s folly, it would be this one.
What else happened in 1963? President Kennedy was killed. The societal woes of today are the result of a downward trend started after his assassination? JFK would have provided the nation with the vision and leadership to where instead of it just being a commercial a few years later, we all would have been standing on a grassy hilltop singing about giving Cokes to each other.
Hmmm, what else in 1963 or that era could have had an effect to America’s detriment. Involvement in VietNam was beginning, a war that would rip the country asunder for 10 more years of involvement and it would not be until the opening (and travels nation wide of a smaller version) of the VietNam Veteran’s Memorial until the healing would fully begin. American’s were leaving their porches as coming inside as both television and air conditioning become more prevalent – trends that continue to this day.
It is simplistic to say that America has gone “downhill” since 1963 and Abbington vs. Shemp was the sole cause. There are a myriad of factors that have caused social changes including television, the Internet and the urbanization (and sub-urbanization) of our population in addition to the only slightly sarcastically listed ones above. America has changed, for the better and for the worse and will continue to do so regardless of any single Supreme Court decision.
- more to follow
