Humor

Something written on a wall

One of our flyers that was posted in a student lounge at IPFW [1] has had a little message to us written on it:

The handwritten text reads:

Ironically, In traditional Christianity the desire to search for answers and quest after more than the world is offering is proof of the Holy Spirit. So, in effect, just by being, you are proving Christian’s [sic] faith as true. How fun is that?

I don’t know: is smug gullibility fun? Viewing it certainly can be. Now, although the analysis of such a childlike attempt at one-upsmanship can be a tad dismal, we have here a clear specimen of the fallacies of equivocation and the non sequitur, fresh-caught from the wild, so it’s good practice to observe how exactly our interlocutor employs them.

The writer uses the label “Holy Spirit” in two different senses. It’s at first a metaphor, I guess: a personification of the inclination to “search for answers.” That’s the only charitable way to interpret the first sentence, since the existence of our search is held up as evidence of the thing’s existence. But then the writer holds the Holy Spirit to be part and parcel of Christians’ faith, and since we’re talking about “traditional” Christians, it’s likely that the writer means us to understand by the term something that actually exists as an actual, non-metaphorical being.

If the thing is a metaphor, then it’s not evidence of the truth of Christian beliefs. It’s evidence that people are curious about the world and want to learn about it, and that’s all. Christianity, despite its pretensions, doesn’t get to claim all human inquiry as being its domain by default. Sorry.

If the thing’s really a spirit that descends on people like a dove and sets things on fire and such, then, of course, its existence doesn’t follow from the fact that Freethought Fort Wayne exists. Magic spirits are—do I really have to say this to a college student?—not a particularly compelling explanation for the fact that people have thoughts and want to know stuff. The brain is quite capable of producing such desires on its own.

Really, even if some kind of dualism were shown to be true, and it were some spirit making me enjoy my bio labs, that would actually hurt the Christians’ case. One of the things that’s supposed to happen when this spirit of theirs starts smacking you around is that you get drawn to Christ, right? Well, whatever spirit is inspiring me to join a freethought group and study science is doing a ridiculously poor job of any such evangelical duty, since I’m still an atheist, though I was once a Christian. In fact, I actually go a bit further in condemning Christian ethics and some of Christ’s teachings than other members of the group: Turn the other cheek? Really? How’s that gonna help me stand up to a bully? [2] If it’s the Christian Holy Spirit we’re talking about, he’s pretty pathetically incompetent. [3]

If, by any chance, the author of that little scribbling is reading this, here’s some well-meant advice: Stop going to whatever congregation, study group, club, or church is leading you to believe that such inane dot-connecting counts as thinking. They’re making you stupider than you need be. In fact, I’m rather confident that you needn’t be stupid at all, given that (1) you seem to have a baseline respect for the process of thinking and seeking answers—you could have condemned the whole enterprise of forming a group to discuss, question, and think, but back-handedly praised it instead—and (2) you’re attending a university, where actual information is all around you, if you will just avail yourself of it. And you’re welcome to comment here.

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[1] Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne, for non-local readers.

[2] Though it’s an interesting peek into the mindset of subjects living under the yoke of a Roman provincial governor, when resistance to the Empire was futile. To their credit, some Jews tried, at about the time the Gospels were probably written, and the ramp that the Roman general built to assault their last garrison at Masada is still there.

[3] With this little bit of thoughtcrime, I’ve irredeemably condemned myself to Hell, or whatever happens when the big man doesn’t forgive you, according to gentle little Jesus (Matthew 12:31-32).

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