So
having borne witness to this gem (seriously, go read it first; it's a textbook case of flawless religious apologist theorising) in Norman Geisler and Frank Turek's book, ‘I Don’t Have Enough
Faith to be an Atheist’, I thought I would give this particular brand of
unreasoning a try.
1.
Truth
about reality is knowable.
2. The opposite of true is false.
3.
It
is true that magic exists. This is evidenced by the:
a.
Beginning
of the Universe (‘A Wizard Did It’ Argument)
b.
Design
of the Universe (‘A Wizard Did That Too’ Argument)
c.
Design
of Life (Bill O’Reilly’s Law of ‘You Can’t Explain That’)
d.
Moral
Law (‘No Seriously Dude, Wizards’ Argument)
4.
If
magic exists, then wizards are possible.
5.
Wizards
can be used to confirm the existence of magic (ie. A wizard casting a kickass
spell to demonstrate the existence of magic)
6.
I
am totally a wizard. This is evidenced by:
a.
This
old book I have here. It says I am totally a wizard. It’s all old and stuff;
you can trust the book.
b.
Some
guy who watched me do magic once. He wrote on this piece of paper saying how I
really am a wizard. You cannot talk to him these days, though. He went on a
quest to Atlantis (it’s real too).
c.
This
guy is totally legit. Why would I make something like this up?
d.
Plenty
of people have seen me do magic. It’s not like it’s possible I’d be out to
deceive them, is it?
7.
All
these reliable and totally infallible sources say I am a wizard.
8.
The
fact that I am a wizard is further confirmed by:
a.
My
life being the fulfilment of a bunch of prophecies made by Alaister Crowley
back in the day. Crowley is a reliable source on these
sort of things.
b.
My
totally awesome and incredible magic spells. You have to believe in them first before I can show them to you, though.
c.
My
magical powers of precognition and magical monster battling.
9.
Therefore,
I am a wizard.
10. Whatever I (a wizard) teach about magic is true.
11.
I
teach that there is such a thing as magic, and that it is what created the
Universe and stuff.
12.
Therefore
it is true to say that magic is real, and that I am a wizard (and anyone who says otherwise is false).
Wait...Atlantis is real!?!
ReplyDeleteI agreed to read an apologetics book once with a theist friend who agreed to read a Dawkins book. After a couple chapters, we both failed.
You have created a false analogy and made it with ridicule in mind, rather than reasoning why each point cannot be the case. Either each point can be the case and probably is, or it can be the case and probably is not, or it cannot be the case. But what your list has done does not address that from a logical standpoint, it merely ridicules (or presents an assumption of ridicule).
ReplyDeleteDisappointing, especially after your reasoned view of babies as Atheists.
I was going for satire, but ridicule is one way of looking at it I suppose.
DeleteBut then, this is a ridiculous argument to begin with. Filled with fallacy after fallacy, circular reasoning and piss-poor apologetics.
I could have done a straight-up deconstruction of the argument presented, but I thought I'd try something a little different and decided to go for humour instead.