Flawed Fiction

Categorical statements – propositions sporting absolutes such as always, never, all, or none – generate the most easily refuted arguments. Unfortunately for literalists, they seem to be unable to help themselves with regard to making categorical, or universal, statements. They apparently believe – quite mistakenly – that universal statement make their emotion-based arguments stronger. In fact, categorical statements very often render their arguments ridiculous.

Safer are those Christians who accept and acknowledge that the Bible is a flawed document created and copied ... and copied ... and copied by humans. These are the Christians who admit that the Bible is a theological product-of-its-times rather than an inerrant PROOF of whatever theology the fundamentalist favours. These moderate Christians, who are often derisively labelled as not-true-Christians by fundamentalists, keep their beliefs safe by viewing the Bible as a moral allegory.

Judging by the ex-Christians whom one encounters on the Internet, deconversion rates are highest among fundamentalists, and deconversion processes most traumatic amongst fundamentalists. It is no surprise, then, that fundamentalists are pouring so much frantic effort into proselytizing and expounding their beliefs. This effort typically comprises misinformation, irrelevant information (Bible quotes), threats and promises, and a variety of fallacies of logic. When these do not work, religionists resort to a variety of on-line cheating stratagems – sockpuppet accounts, trolling, spamming, false flagging, false DMCA claims, and votebot attacks on YT ratings.