Lies, lies, lies
The deception continues. I've started on the 2nd chapter of Blaker's book. It's an article written by Edwin Kagin. I'm not sure which is worse; lying by attributing a quote to someone when they didn't say it or taking an actual quote out of context in order to make it sound like the person quoted meant something other than what they did mean. The following excerpt from his article The Gathering Storm is in the context of the claim that fundamentalist Christians no longer favor the King James version of the Bible because some say that King James, who commissioned the translation, was a homosexual. I'm going to be careful to put Mr. Kagin in context here and then analyze what he's done:
Gary Bauer from northern Kentucky is former president of the Family Research Council (FRC) a Christian fundamentalist "pro family" organization, a Republican candidate for the 2002 Presidential campaign. It has been widely circulated that Bauer concluded that nothing touched by a homosexual could be good for good Christians:
"I feel uncomfortable that good Christians all over America, and indeed the world, are using a document commissioned by a homosexual. Anthing that has been commissioned by a homosexual has obviously been tainted in some way."
This originated as parody, but so accurately fits Bauer's views, that it has been frequently cited by fundamentalists.
Now, what Mr. Kagin has done is what is what is called "poisoning the well." He has taken a quote that did not come from the lips of Gary Bauer, puts it in a context where it is implied that he did say it, then recants after the fact by stating that it "originated as parody." Although he did finally state that the fictitious quote was parody, it has already been placed in the reader's mind that Mr. Bauer actually did make that statement. By doing this, Mr. Kagin has conditioned his audience to believe that Mr. Bauer did actually make the statement in question. And they are accusing the Christians of distortion, manipulation and subterfuge?
And so it goes, and so it goes.
Gary Bauer from northern Kentucky is former president of the Family Research Council (FRC) a Christian fundamentalist "pro family" organization, a Republican candidate for the 2002 Presidential campaign. It has been widely circulated that Bauer concluded that nothing touched by a homosexual could be good for good Christians:
"I feel uncomfortable that good Christians all over America, and indeed the world, are using a document commissioned by a homosexual. Anthing that has been commissioned by a homosexual has obviously been tainted in some way."
This originated as parody, but so accurately fits Bauer's views, that it has been frequently cited by fundamentalists.
Now, what Mr. Kagin has done is what is what is called "poisoning the well." He has taken a quote that did not come from the lips of Gary Bauer, puts it in a context where it is implied that he did say it, then recants after the fact by stating that it "originated as parody." Although he did finally state that the fictitious quote was parody, it has already been placed in the reader's mind that Mr. Bauer actually did make that statement. By doing this, Mr. Kagin has conditioned his audience to believe that Mr. Bauer did actually make the statement in question. And they are accusing the Christians of distortion, manipulation and subterfuge?
And so it goes, and so it goes.
Labels: apologetics, bible, book review, Christianity
posted by Jim V. | 10:43 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home