The Church of the Infinite Chasm has been on hiatus, and it hasn’t been the Hump Day Hiatus, either. But it’s time to get back in the saddle.
One aspect of the debate between people on both sides of the issue – and the issue is: did life evolve? Were we created? Is there a God? Does he give a flip about humans? etc. – is what I would describe as unfair and uninformed attacks. There is another word for such attacks: propaganda.
Propaganda is defined as one-sided communication designed to influence people’s thinking and actions. Here’s an example:
As propaganda, it isn’t educational. It is designed to control the conclusion the reader reaches rather than presenting facts, pro and con, and letting the reader decide. It is said that educators teach people how to think; propagandists tell people what to think.
As biased, one-sided communication, you can readily see that this line of “logic” conveniently ignores a number of important facts:
a.) for starters, many people completely ignore the Ten Commandments as a guide to daily living, so whatever they said would have little effect on the course of human events.
b.) You must not commit murder is, as everyone knows, one of the commandments and would take care of several of the problems she lists quite nicely – if murderers cared about such things.
c.) if Katha Pollitt was God incarnate and wrote the Ten Commandments herself – today or centuries ago on Mt. Sinai – I challenge her to offer one shred of evidence that anything would be different on the world scene today. One of the “flawed” commandments proscribes adultery, yet adultery is as widespread as criticism of the Bible. Are we to believe that a commandment against any of the things she lists would somehow miraculously eliminate them?
d.) Let’s say we chuck the Ten Commandments altogether. Were we to do that, Ms. Pollitt’s propaganda also conveniently forgets the One Commandment, often called the Golden Rule (also from generally speaking the same source as the Ten Commandments) which would single-handedly eliminate every societal ill she listed – and hundreds more. Mankind’s laws are voluminous in the extreme (which is another argument against her “logic” – proliferation of laws in and of itself does nothing). Yet a single divinely inspired law – if followed – could replace the need for them all. It is all of one sentence long: treat others as you would have them treat you. No wife beating. No bombs or war. No slavery. No child abuse. No imperialism. No murders. No price gouging. No cutting in line. No rudeness. No littering.
And remember, that simple yet sublime rule is from the same book as the Ten Commandments.
The problem is not the law. There is no flaw or omission in the Ten Commandments, nor in the Golden Rule. The problem lies in ignoring or disobeying the law, the Ten Commandments, the Golden Rule, tax laws, speeding laws, and dozens of other beneficial laws.
It’s easy to read a quote like Katha Pollitt’s and conclude God’s wisdom is seriously flawed, if it’s wisdom at all. That’s effective propaganda at work. Before you realize it, you’ve consciously (or otherwise) concluded that Katha Pollitt is smarter than God. It is far better to think for one’s self and weigh charges like hers against the evidence.