Why Conspiracy Theories Can’t Be Ignored
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“…we have crossed a line from lone paranoid nuts to larger groups, who are starting to communicate with each other, all with an interconnected belief system.” - Geraghty
“Since the question of falsifiability has cross-disciplinary value, it is a question that we should ask not only of our theological opinions, but also our political and medical and economic opinions”
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“This brings me to another question of discernment, viz., the question of falsifiability, or, ‘What would it take to change my mind?’” - Snoeberger
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Why Christians Must Be to Loyal to Truth, Not Political Party or Brand
My thoughts below predate COVID-19, masks, hydroxychloroquine, or churches defying public health emergency orders. Last fall, different controversies were exposing problems in how believers evaluate conflicting claims and decide what to believe.
But those problems are still with us, and the current raft of controversies is exposing them even more painfully.
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“We have allowed the secular political discourse to renew our minds so that we can only see liberal versus conservative, control versus freedom.”
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“ ‘Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone’ (Titus 3:1–2). These marks demonstrate true faith and integrity among Christians.” - Wyatt Graham
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“Christian naivety is harming the church’s engagement with today’s culture”
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“As I considered the types of pushback I received from some fellow believers … I started to realize that their comments had little to do with the facts, logic, or manner in which I wrote that particular article.
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Social media make us JUMP to false conclusions
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“Information, disinformation, and narratives now spread globally between billions of people at the push of a button. Solana observes this did indeed occur, for good or for ill, with the COVID-19 pandemic” - Acton
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Facts don't matter to the already-made-up mind
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“In a recent article, Dennis Prager lists four practices that are destroying America from the inside. One of those he outlines is demonization, where an entire class or group of people is labeled as inherently evil. Heather Mac Donald’s WSJ editorial challenged this very thing.” - CPost
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Arguments and “narratives” aren't the same thing
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“Arguments tend to be focused on facts and logic…. A person presents arguments in the hope that someone else will have their understanding or thinking altered as they consider the arguments…. Narratives, on the other hand, tend to be focused on personal stories and experiences. … Increasingly, the discourse in our culture is bereft of arguments but filled with competing narratives.” - Ben Edwards
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“truth has moved from being a matter of reason to a matter of feeling”
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“Meanwhile, much of evangelical Christianity has emphasized the therapeutic and emotive experience of faith above the theological ideas that undergird it. Poor catechesis and avoidance of difficult doctrine means that for many Christians, religious identity is only as secure as the feelings that accompany it” - TGC
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From the Archives – Please Don't Believe This Post
From 2011.
I’m dead serious about the title of this little essay. I’ll explain later. The focus of this piece is the need for more and better critical thinking (some of you probably already see the connection to the title).
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