Whereas most modern researchers try to follow the evidence wherever it leads, conservative Christians (and the conservative adherents of many other religions) pursue lines of evidence only so far as this evidence does not contradict the basic beliefs mandated by their holy texts. In the case of conservative Christians, scientific research, educational research, biblical research - all of these are just fine as long as they don’t clash with the ‘foundational truths of scripture’. The ethical, but otherwise unfettered pursuit of knowledge is no longer the researcher’s point of departure. The Bible is the baseline.

Fundamentalist reasoning about subjects like evolution or biblical criticism is invariably specious at heart because it focuses on an irrelevant factor, namely the biblical baseline. Sometimes this is glaringly obvious, while at other times it’s quite well disguised.

Reading the arguments of the baseliners is quite unlike reading, say, Richard Dawkins, Peter Singer or Carl Sagan who generally attack the opposition head-on and with great rigour. Instead you’ll find enveloping clouds of non sequiturs, ad hominem positions, lots of circular reasoning, inventive insults and regurgitation of long-discredited ‘facts’, together with a final, ringing assertion that yet again, the Bible has been ‘proven true’. Conservative evangelicals’ point of departure doubles as their conclusion.

Read the full analysis of the biblical baseline: The Foolishness of God

Filed in: Biblical criticism, Fundamentalism

You might like to know some more about the people who support Bill Muehlenberg on his CultureWatch site, and even occasionally perform the difficult feat of outflanking him on the right.

I won’t bother for the moment with Jonathan Sarfati and Tas Walker, both of whom are senior staffers at Creation Ministries International (CMI), Australia’s leading Young Earth Creationist (YEC) group. Brief (and glowing) biographies are available for both of these gentlemen at the CMI site. Muehlenberg is uncharacteristically coy when it comes to defining his own position on creationism (YEC, Old Earth Creationist, Intelligent Design supporter etc.), but YECs like Sarfati and Walker are among his favourite people.

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Filed in: Abortion, People, Politics

Ewan McDonald, comment on CultureWatch Secular Religion, 23 May 2007:

Cosmological evolution can be witnessed today as new stars form, but this does not prove a naturalistic origin. Rather, since the process of stellar evolution remains a mystery, a supernatural origin makes much more sense.

[Best example of a 'god of the gaps' argument I've seen for some time. Ewan, mate, you just don't get it, do you?]

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Filed in: Their Own Mouths

The evangelical Christians who run New Life magazine probably consider themselves a highly moral group of people. After all, they spend much of their time fulminating against abortion rights, gay and lesbian rights, feminists, ‘evolutionists’, supporters of voluntary euthanasia and similar miscreants. Surely they themselves are ‘right with God’.

As with a number of conservative Christian journals, you can tell a lot about the core beliefs of the publishers and editors by reading the children’s pages. Here, the organisation’s basic ideas are distilled to their essence, untrammelled by the bodyguard of … I was going to say ‘nuances’, but let’s say ‘lies’ instead … that accompany similar articles written for adult consumption.

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Filed in: Biblical criticism, Evangelicals

Mrs Amanda J. Tan, Doonside NSW, letter in Good Report, May/July 2007, 17:

Unless [Genesis] creation is taught in Australian schools, Australia will become more and more atheistic, truth will be only relative, and this will lead to the further decline in ethical values in Australia, and the further chaos and breakdown of our functioning society … The teaching of creation will help restore ethical values and decency and blessing in Australia.

[Amanda, why would the abandonment of science lead to anything other than a new Dark Age?]

Julie Jordan ‘The ABCs for a Lasting Marriage’, ibid., 20:

You might say that you don’t hear [God] speaking to you, but may I ask you: Have you done what He told you to do the last time you spent time with Him? Did He convict you about some sin that you are unwilling to give up? It could be gossiping, greed, malice, evil desires, envy, laziness, pride, arrogance, unwillingness to forgive, idolatry, hatred, to name a few.

['A few'! Kind of makes you wonder why a 'good' god would permit the existence of such a degraded creation. Must be one of those 'mysteries' that Christian theologians are so fond of running up against.]

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Filed in: Their Own Mouths

Senator Bill Heffernan, quoted in Katharine Murphy, ‘Bill of the dead’, Melbourne Age, 29 Mar. 2007:

When I was a kid at boarding school, I told on a teacher for saying ‘bloody’.

[Well, you certainly were a precious little nark, weren't you, Bill?]

Anonymous letter to editor (headlined ‘Encouraging Letters’), Creation News, (John Mackay’s Creation Research), Mar. 2007, 2:

Just watched your … new DVD speaking to the UK parliamentarians. And (in my humble opinion) this is the best DVD you’ve done in regard to clearly explaining the philosophy behind these issues. The only down side was we couldn’t see the face of the politician who was ‘aghast’ that someone might mention that the Bible teaches that homosexuals should be stoned to death.

[Straight out of the Christian Reconstructionist handbook. Thanks for sharing.]

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Filed in: Their Own Mouths

An ‘Australian Christian Values Checklist‘ has been published by a number of Religious Right groups in order to assist prospective voters at the NSW state election to be held on 24 March 2007.

The introduction to this checklist claims that:

In the 2001 census, 68% [of] Australians identified themselves as Christians. This summary of the positions of major parties on issues of concern to Christians is provided as a service to the Christian community.

This statement disingenuously implies that 68% of Australians support an extensive Religious Right political program involving, for example, a crackdown on abortion, prohibition of embryonic stem-cell research and voluntary euthanasia, and the introduction of a draconian censorship system. As you can see, the only parties who allegedly support a majority of these positions are the National Party (by a whisker) and Fred Nile’s Christian Democratic Party, which promotes all 27 listed policies.

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Filed in: Christian Right, Family Values, Politics, Stem Cell Research

Beware of anyone telling you that you need to adopt a ‘biblical world view’. Such a person is likely to be some sort of ‘dominionist’, an ugly word for the uglier idea that countries should be run according to strict Christian standards. If you’re not quite sure what these standards are, don’t worry - just ask your friendly dominionist and then do as you’re told!

There are a couple of dominionist gabfests held in Australia every year, one of which was recently conducted in Canberra by the American-based Summit Ministries. About 150 people attended and a good time was had by all.

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Filed in: Evangelicals, Theocracy

Every now and then - well, actually, about six times a day - I see something that makes me think the Christian fundamentalists should just pack it in. This comes from a piece called ‘Unholy Alliance‘ by Roulla Yiacoumi and it appeared in the Melbourne Age Green Guide of 8 Feb. 2007:

Richard Cohen is chief executive of Hotmovies.com, a website that allows you to watch selected scenes from porn movies streamed to your PC. Each night, between 38,000 and 60,000 video clips are viewed.

‘I couldn’t believe those figures when I first heard them’, Mr Cohen says. ‘I got our people to check them several times. But they were correct …’

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Filed in: Christian Right, Sexuality

Nancy Campbell, ‘From our Home to Yours’ (editorial), Above Rubies, Nov. 2006 (distributed Feb. 2007), 4:

Most Christians limit their families to one or two children, which is a belief-system rooted in humanism and feminism. It doesn’t come from the Bible.

['Belief-systems' seem to be breeding like rabbits in evangelical literature. Family planning is apparently a discrete 'belief-system' now. What about having sex, Nancy, is that a 'belief-system' too?]

Louise Shaw, ‘Dress to Please’ (part of a longer piece titled ‘Husbands Need Encouragement’), ibid., 6:

Recently I have begun to honour my husband by dressing more femininely and lovely to look upon. I wear far more skirts than before.

[Three at once, do you mean?]

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Filed in: Their Own Mouths