Gullible Christians & Urban Legends
PossumMama quotes an email she received from an acquaintence:
I love that our leader will take time out of his schedule during wartime to witness. In Christ - Jamie
There is a man in our church, Jeff Benoit, who has a friend who served on Pres. Elect Bush's campaign in Austin, and she called him to tell this story. Last week, Gov. Bush appeared at the thank-you banquet for his campaign staff, and was going table to table to shake hands with the 1000+ campaign volunteers. He got to one lady, who by a brief comment she made, indicated she was a Christian. She was there with her 16 year old son. Gov. Bush asked him if he was a believer, too. He said he didn't think so.
Gov. Bush then asked, "Do you mind if I tell you how I came to know Christ as my savior?" The boy agreed, and Gov. Bush pulled up a chair and witnessed to him for 30 minutes, and led him in the sinners prayer! Jeff's friend was so choked up, she could hardly tell the story through her tears.
Yes, my dear girlfriend, we are living in the end times. How glorious to know that our new president is a man that doesn't feel the political pressure to glad-hand 1000 people, but would take 30 minutes of his precious time to lead a teenager to Christ.
How many errors can you find in the above? It's not just that there are serious errors, but they are obvious errors which should be immediately clear to anyone who stops for even a few moments to think about it. Right at the beginning we see Bush described as "president elect" and "governor" when he hasn't been that for eight years, yet the story is treated as contemporary because its described as taking place during "war time." Of course, Bush has never demonstrated any problem taking time off for golf or extended vacations during "war time," so why should this be any different? Even if this were remarkable, isn't the message that proselytization is more important that affairs of state?
Indeed, and that's the underlying problem: these stories are used to prop up and confirm beliefs regardless of any underlying truth because promoting or supporting religious faith is far more important than anything else. The falsehood of this story is easily determined with just a very little bit of research that anyone can do, but clearly many don't bother. Yet we nonbelievers are informed that the stories in the Bible, written and transmitted at a time when verifying them would have been difficult, are completely reliable and accurate and we have no reason to doubt their truth.
Yeah, right.
Comments
This is a very good article. Allot of people don’t really take time to question this type of thing since it comes from an honest Christian. As you point out, a little thought can lead to the truth about such stories.
It could be that Christians tend to be more gullible when it comes to stories that confirm or promote their beliefs, but it’s kind of hard to tell without proper comparison. After all, how often do we get urban legends that promote the values of religious skepticism?
My suspicion is that people, in general, tend to be uncritical of stories that confirm their worldview.
Slightly off-topic, but Possummomma closed her blog recently:
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/10/possummomma_has_gone_silent.php
I have only anecdotal evidence, but my personal experience has been that most fundamentalists will believe anything they hear from another member of their sect no matter how inaccessible the original source or preposterous the claim, as long as it supports their prejudices. The dead are being brought back to life in Africa! Amputees are growing back limbs in South America! Doctors know coral calcium cures cancer but let us suffer and die because expensive, risky treatments make them more money!
Sigh.
Whenever I visit my fundie father I end up having to un-gunk his computer. His inbox has a SPAM blocker and the SPAM folder is bulging with so-called Christian come-ons: Christian loan offers, Christian dating services, viagra sources for Christians, and, my favorite, invitations to join Christian sex clubs of varying fetishes. There is obviously a market exploiting this gullibility.
And cheap shot on Bush’s golf/vacations during “war time.” I’m no Bush cheerleader but I know that Presidents are never far away from direct phone and video links with various Washington agencies and policy makers. The President’s physical location is essentially irrelevant. Behind the scenes wherever he may be is an entourage keeping him connected. These folks are out of public and media view.
I can say that just speaking for my social circle, ALL of the regulars, who send me the type of e-mails I wish they’d verify first at Snopes, are traditional Christians.
Yeah same here, as e-mail goes. All the ridiculous spam I get is from them. Prayer chain letters, crap about angels, Obama’s a secret Muslim, signs of the end times, Bill Gates is giving away computers, etc…
What really fascinates me is how many Xians believe in Astrology too. They truly think those ambiguous pseudo-predictions are about THEM personally.
Doesn’t the Bible say that kind of stuff is a no-no anyway?
MikeC:
Some Christians are down on Astrology–I think as witchcraft? But the 3 “wisemen” were called “Magi”–and in the New American Standard Bible, that is footnoted as “Men specializing in astrology,” which makes sense, since they did notice and follow the star in the tale.
Fun Bible trivia.
That “Zeitgiest” movie on YouTube goes into the astrology behind much of Christian mythology. It’s not 100% accurate, but still pretty interesting.
Tracie,
I have had the exact same experience with the trashy chain e-mails. In addition, when I have responded to these e-mails including a link to the Snopes article refuting the garbage they are spewing, I have received angry responses back from the idiots.
I give up!!! Deluded xians must be lacking the logic gene or something!