James Dobson fired the first shot
In a recent radio interview, prominent evangelical activist James Dobson said that Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's Mormon faith "could pose a serious obstacle" if he decided to run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. Dobson said he thought that conservative Christians wouldn't feel comfortable casting a ballot for a Mormon.
Source: newsobserver.com | Can a Mormon win evangelical support?
Dobson is underselling his position. Evangelical Christians think Mormonism is a cult. They will vote for a democrat before casting a single vote for Mitt Romney. Once the election starts in earnest, the cover will be pulled back on Mormon theology. Things will get ugly pretty quick.
The Mormans believe in a very different form of Christianity. In fact, many think it cannot be called Christian theology at all. It is quite simply - different in a fundamental way.
- The Trinity - nope! The God head or three different gods.
- Plurality of god or "many gods" - we can become gods.
- Jehovah of the old testament is the Jesus of the new testament.
- Jesus taught in the Americas too.
- Children exist before birth as spirits.
- Three other books beside the bible are considered the word of god, the books often contradict the bible.
- Special undergarments required!
- No historical proof for the story in the book of Mormon.
From a Evangelical standpoint - Mormons are off the map. From an atheist standpoint - well, lets just say that few religious offer such a rich and varied amount of contradictory historical information.
For a video thumbnail on Mormons, watch this video. Warning some viewers might find this offensive (like my mom, my wife, my son, my friend Brad, even my friend Richard)
How do we know that Christians are delusional?
Great video, but I am already an atheist. I wonder how the religious groups will respond.
ReplyDeleteThere may be no empirical evidence that god exists, but you have provided plenty of empirical evidence that you are a complete moron!
ReplyDeleteIt looks like the "anonymous" commentator is so sure of his/her beliefs that they are afraid to give and identity. Maybe it's GOD talking?
ReplyDeleteLexcen - apparently, not very well.
ReplyDeleteI agree- that was an entertaining video.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised that you would think I could find that offensive, I did find it annoying and dumb, but that is different.
ReplyDeleteJust as an example all 3 of the "problems" with Christianity that demonstrate how "your irrationality hurts us all":
1) Christians superstitiously believe in the "power of prayer"
2) That Christianity devalues human life.
3) That Christ will return to destroy the earth and its effect your thoughts about the future and our species.
Are all obvious straw men. If a religious person structured an argument like this you would easily be able to identify and expose the logical shortcomings in it. Remember these are the 3 harms he chose to make his argument out of everything that might have been available, and he asserts early in the video that it doesn't matter whether you are a fundamentalist, moderate, or casual christian that "your delusion is hurting us as a species" yet the harms he asserts are tied quite closely to fundamentalist beliefs. This is about as honest as the "Atheism causes crime" arguments.
It bugs me when rational Joe becomes religious Joe and accepts irrationality because it comes from his own side.
We may have reached a tie on the evangelical issue some weeks ago. I would suggest that using this video as a "thumbnail" without criticism puts you squarely in the evangelical atheist camp.
Don't you hate it when people tag Atheism as a religion? Don't they see - that's an oxymoron?
ReplyDeleteAh RG hello, disclaimer "for a video thumbnail of Mormons" I said nothing about Christians in my post, except the title of the video.
ReplyDeleteI did not delve into the irrationality of the videos later content and general thrust because it was not germane to the post "Mormon’s believe weird things". Which, the video does a good job of showing in its opening minutes.
I did not think you would find this offensive. I thought you would find it exactly what you found it to be, and fearing the logic and fervor that is RG, warned you off watching. Of course, that was like saying "I dare" you.
Just to make things clear - I think the video is stupid, its content puerile, and its argument simple. Nor do I, rational Joe, find its message appealing.
However – it does what I advertised; it highlights the oddness of Mormon theology. If I could have edited it down to end after that section, I would have.
So back off RG, and next time stay warned!
Oh – and this post is filled with sarcasm.
And, I loved your links to the anime dancing things.