Social Media Christian no. 2,899,761

Hi, all,

Okay, yes, I pulled that number out of thin air :p

But seriously, it really does seem like I've had conversations well into the millions with Christians on social media. Well, yesterday I crossed paths with yet another social media Christian(friend of a friend), a guy who I quickly found out had some very bizarre views on the topic of morality, which of course, he claims comes from Christianity(this is demonstrably false, but that is for another discussion)

It all started with a meme that a mutual friend posted, one where pop skeptic Penn Jillette is pictured and is quoted, saying....

The question I get asked by religious people all the time is, without God, what’s to stop me from raping all I want? And my answer is: I do rape all I want. And the amount I want is zero. And I do murder all I want, and the amount I want is zero. The fact that these people think that if they didn’t have this person watching over them that they would go on killing, raping rampages is the most self-damning thing I can imagine. I don't want to do that. Right now, without any god, I don't want to jump across this table and strangle you. I have no desire to strangle you. I have no desire to flip you over and rape you. You know what I mean?

The reasonable among us understand the point he is making. But at least one person, a guy who I will simply call "jj"(his initials), either pretended to not understand the point being made, or willingly misunderstood it, countering back....

Believe me...no true Christian thinks that a 'person' is watching over them.

I remarked back that the distinction he made is irrelevant, because Penn Jillette is simply making the observation that he finds it inconceivable that the only thing stopping some people from murdering and raping is the notion that they're being watched, with the possibility of being judged at a later time.

So, like clockwork, jj fires back....

Anyone who actually KNOWS and believes in the Spirit of God is not going to be drawn to raping and murdering

Did you catch that? Okay, anyone who's ever read a newspaper headline or a social media news feed knows that this is false. For starters, Christians, themselves, are some of the first people to admit that they are drawn to "sin", but always add that the "Holy Spirit" protects them, well, unless they slip up and get caught. When that happens, then they are sure to let you know that they are "forgiven", and this seems to align with one platitude in particular that goes, "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven"

We all know that one, don't we? And yet, in this instance when I called the apologist out, rather than him point out that Christians aren't perfect and can "sin" like everyone else, he instead attempted the ever popular, "Not a True Christian!" argument, aka, the No True Scotsman fallacy. Yes, the learned Christian apologist proffered that, while Christians can act immorally or unethically, no "True Christian" could ever rape or murder. 'Funny, because just a cursory look at the bible and we see that murdering people is in fact approved by the very character whom jj will no doubt claim makes him and every other "True Christian" incapable of murder. There are countless murders of people commanded by biblegod, including the murder of women and children. Now, are the ones who followed the orders not "True Christians", then? I think of what a great ministry tool it would be if someone could clear this up. But I wouldn't recommend the holding of one's breath.

In any case, at this point I interjected that, statistically, Christians are just as capable of rape and murder as anyone else, which, in hindsight, might not have been the best choice of words. Notwithstanding, there are statistics and studies that have shown that prison populations have a higher number of inmates who identified as Christian than those who identified with other faiths.

But of course, jj latched onto the "statistic" comment like a fly on guano, demanding that I provide said statistics, which, by the way, I did, but a few of them were given by way of a bar graph. I provided graphs (and sources) for two separate years, clearly showing that Christians make up most of the prison population.

Here is one of the actual links I provided...

 https://www.statista.com/statistics/234653/religious-affiliation-of-us-prisoners/

Lo and behold, my Christian interlocutor contested the link, calling one "a meme" and another "vague", while complaining at length because it lacked the precise percentages of the inmates who are in prison specifically for rape and murder, never mind that there are also charts that actually do show these percentages:

So, inmates who committed violent crimes, including rape and murder, make up more of the prison population than those who committed lesser offenses. Given this data, we are then being reasonable to deduce that a very large percentage of that section identify as Christian. It's a matter of doing the math.

And yet, this sort of evidence will not satisfy, and I knew it wouldn't, which is why I didn't even bother with posting the above pie chart. Why didn't I post it? The answer is simple and obvious: Because the social media Christian has taken the intellectually lazy way out and simply redefined what "Christian" means. This way, with a wave of a hand, he can simply say that any person who rapes and murders isn't a "True Christian". How's that for convenience?

I'm sure that I am not the only one who sees how vacuous this sort of argument is. I certainly saw it, so using one of my favorite literary tools..i.e..sarcasm, I pointed out that things like armed robbery, child molestation, and child pornography are not deal breakers in this guy's world; you can still commit these 'not-so-immoral' acts and be a "True Christian".

Of course, this is what all Christians do. I did it when I was a Christian. They all subjectively draw their lines. They all project their own idea of how morals should be.

As one might have guessed, there was dead silence on this issue. Not one iota of interest shown in clearing it up. Not that this is shocking, or anything.