Is Original Sin the answer?

Since we’re on the topic of evil in human behavior, let’s take a look at the Christian doctrine of Original Sin and/or the so-called “sin nature.” Some Christians make a distinction between Original Sin and the “sin nature,” but the two ideas have enough in common that we can treat them as being basically the same idea, which is that Adam’s sin caused all mankind to become sinful. Or, as Mr. Horvath puts it,

the Christian religion says that people are by nature sinful and fallen. So it isn’t any surprise to Christians- or it shouldn’t be- when humans do bad things to other humans. We shouldn’t even be surprised when Christians are mean to other Christians…

When liberal pacifist Reinhold Neibuhr was confronted with the realities that emerged after WW2, he had a change of heart and mind and realized that Original Sin was real. GK Chesterton wrote that Original Sin was the only Christian doctrine that can actually be empirically demonstrated.

But does the doctrine of Original Sin really explain evil behavior? Or is it merely a superstition that does nothing more than attribute evil to an indetectable and magical “cause”?

Zinger of the day

Ed Brayton, at Dispatches from the Culture Wars, quotes a Messianic Jewish leader as claiming that unless Dubya gives up his attempts to set up a Palestinian state (and incidentally bringing badly needed peace to the region), God will punish America by handing us over to a series of bad presidents. Ed sums up the situation pretty succinctly:

So let’s get this straight: If we don’t do what God says, God’s going to punish us by giving us bad leaders. How exactly will we tell?

Good question.

Gun nuts rejoice: God loves armed Christians

According to the WorldNetDaily, there were many Christians in the Denver-area ministries when a lone gunman showed up, but if you want to know which one God was with, look for the Christian with the gun.

The female security guard who shot and stopped a gunman at a Colorado Springs church yesterday is crediting God for helping her to resolve the threat by killing the assailant.

Jeanne Assam was hailed by Pastor Brady Boyd with saving many lives in her quick response to gunshots fired at the New Life Church.

“I give the credit to God, and I mean that, I say that very humbly, God was with me the whole time I was behind cover,” she told reporters. “It seemed like it was me, the gunman and God.”

Armed Christian security guards, Christian militias, Christians infiltrating and taking over the Air Force Academy–maybe David Koresh was just ahead of his time.

Evidence of a real ghost (writer)

Writing for townhall.com, Dinesh D’Souza, like so many others, wants to use Anthony Flew to promote his own agenda.

Flew now believes that the design of the universe requires a designer. He gives his reasons in a new book There Is a God which is co-authored with Roy Abraham Varghese.

In the book, Flew uses simple analogies to expose atheist illogic.

As has been documented elsewhere, Anthony Flew has admitted that he does not recognize what is written in much of the book being circulated under his name by Christian propagandist Roy Varghese. This implies that either Flew is not the author, or that he is no longer in command of his mental faculties. The “simple analogies to expose atheist illogic [sic]” stand in stark stylistic and analytical contrast to the incisive philosophical analysis for which Flew originally became famous, lending further weight to the conclusion that Flew, in his right mind, would not have written the Varghese book, and very likely didn’t.

Let’s look at D’Souza’s sample simple analogy to see how far short it falls from the kind of intelligent and insightful argument an Anthony Flew could have produced when he was at the top of his form.

Free will, Beanie Babies, and beer

Zeno writes about Dinesh D’Souza’s argument for the soul, based on “free will.” Here is D’Souza’s reasoning argument.

[I]s the long-standing human belief in the soul a fiction? We can answer this question by examining the issue of free will. Let me illustrate. I am sitting at my computer with a cup of coffee on my desk. I can reach over and take a sip if I choose; I can knock the coffee mug onto the carpet if I choose; I can just leave the cup alone and let the coffee get cold. Now I ask: Is there anything in the laws of physics that forces me do any of these things? Obviously not.

This argument fails to take into account at least two things: Beanie Babies, and beer.

The wrath of God

God’s wrath seems to be in the news a lot. Fred Phelps is making himself notorious for claiming that the Iraq war (and its casualties) are God’s wrath upon America for not hating gays enough. Any number of pastors and evangelists have claimed that Hurricane Katrina was God’s wrath on New Orleans for widespread sex, jazz, and other sinful activities. Right-wing evangelist/campaigners warn us about the future wrath God will deal down on us if we don’t vote for Republicans. And so on.

It occurred to me to ask, Where do we get the idea that God has wrath? Is it from observation, speculation, or superstition? Or something else?