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Post by The_L on Oct 29, 2010 4:05:40 GMT -5
As we all know, fundies love to use scare tactics to either convert us filthy non-believers to their side, or keep the sheep from leaving the flock. I can think of quite a few scare tactics that were used on me, just off the top of my head:
1. Mike Warnke's lies about Satanism. (Because it makes total sense for tens of thousands of devil-worshipers to go running around eating babies and somehow evade law enforcement and/or general suspicion long enough to recruit more followers.)
2. Reminders that non-believers will all suffer eternally.
3. Insistence that God will be angry with you if you masturbate, use a condom, or fail to pray the rosary every single day. (To Catholics, God is like the Hulk: Keep him calm, damnmit, you won't like him when he's angry.)
4. Repeated insistence, contrary to both the Bible (which is remarkably silent on the age of the earth) and common sense, that the universe is exactly 6,000 years old, and that if you don't believe it, then you can't possibly believe in Jesus or kindness or anything worth believing in and are therefore a monster.
Do these emotional appeals even actually work on most victims in the long run? I seem to remember them as a large part of the reason I left Christianity in the first place.
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Post by arrowdeath on Oct 29, 2010 4:31:08 GMT -5
Some people respond better to emotional appeals. In fact, some people can't even identify them as emotional appeals. It's somewhat rare to come across something who will clamp down on their emotions and try to deal objectively with something; it takes some mental fortitude to ignore your feelings.
Pure speculation, but might be the reason why it's more difficult to find a secular fundie over a religious one. You have to be emotional and vehement enough to hate every religion while not relying on emotions enough to disbelieve them.
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Post by Mlle Antéchrist on Oct 29, 2010 4:33:27 GMT -5
5. If everyone stopped believing in god (and not just any god, but the Abrahamic god), we'd all turn into baby-raping cannibals.
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Post by futthewukk on Oct 29, 2010 7:24:01 GMT -5
OMG! Funny that you mentioned Mike Warnke.
"Are you ready to get saved now or shall I let go?" -- What a tool.
There's more scare tactics than I can count. How about the Left Behind series, which actually was a series of cheesy movies made in the 70's before the newer Tim Lahaye stuff came out 20 years later. The biggest memory from that movie was of a girl character who was paralyzed from the waist down because she had been shot in the spine and was now flopping on the floor in a prison, talking to some little kid who was in prison with her. Then they executed both of them by beheading because they refused to take "the mark."
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Post by Julian on Oct 29, 2010 10:27:15 GMT -5
6/. Chick Tracts... 7/. Atheists hate God so much they want to burn in hell. 8/. Teh gay is contagious and gays all have AIDS. 9/. The Rapture. 10/. If you look at a guy, you'll get pregnant. 11/. Deuteronomy 28. (They don't use that one any more, but fuck it'd be funny if they did. I'd go back to church with popcorn...)
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Post by musicalbookworm on Oct 29, 2010 14:35:09 GMT -5
Oh, yeah a big reason why I am very reluctant to call myself a Christian. I don't know what you consider me. I believe in some vague concept of a loving but relatively uninvolved higher spiritual power but have little patience for organized religion. (I basically consider myself a Unitarian with neo-pagan leanings.) I went through all this rapture crap in elementary school, and even had nightmares about it. It's one of the reasons I left. Christianity is more about hate and fear than it is about making the world a better place. I want no part of a religion that believes in fear, manipulation and coercion. Strangely enough, I am also a very emotional person, but I am capable of thinking pragmatically.
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Post by godlesspanther on Oct 29, 2010 18:33:48 GMT -5
Mike Warnke -- He was exposed by a Christian magazine, Cornerstone: www.cornerstonemag.com/features/iss098/sellingsatan.htmI had never heard of Warnke until I started researching the satanic scare of the 80s. Naturally it would have been a Christian publication that exposed him. Outside of that sub-culture Warnke was an unknown. I know from those who were raised in a fundie home Warnke was well-known and most members of that group believed his satanic adventure story. For those outside of that culture there is no question. No investigation is necessary. It's obviously fiction and simply not believable. After Cornerstone exposed Warke many fundies were pissed (Brits: angry, not drunk) not at Warnke for lying to them but at the authors of the Cornerstone article for telling people that Warnke was lying. They think that because Warnke "brought people to Christ" he is a hero even if he was a liar. They have their priorities.
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Post by Sigmaleph on Oct 29, 2010 21:18:18 GMT -5
Well, Jesus was all for the ends justifying the means.
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Post by Thejebusfire on Oct 29, 2010 21:23:27 GMT -5
That slippery slope arguement that if gays get married then people will soon be marrying children and pets.
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Post by godlesspanther on Oct 29, 2010 22:09:52 GMT -5
That slippery slope arguement that if gays get married then people will soon be marrying children and pets. And toasters. Can't forget toasters. And, if we let somebody marry a toaster what's to say that he can't marry two toasters? Three toasters? Then we would have people married to as many as 500 toasters! Hmmmm.... I just thought of something. Donald Trump, I am writing to inform you that I am now married to all of your money. I'll be taking my wife home now.
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Post by godlesspanther on Oct 29, 2010 22:12:20 GMT -5
Well, Jesus was all for the ends justifying the means. I think all religion has elements of that. They have to justify all the evil shit that they do in order to please their imaginary friends. It's all for a greater good. Even if you can't see that greater good -- god can so that's that.
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Post by Sigmaleph on Oct 29, 2010 23:23:45 GMT -5
Christianity in general (and most other religions, as far as I know) seems more deontological than consequentialist. More about specific rules, less about general principles.
Unless it's convenient, of course.
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Post by Shane for Wax on Oct 30, 2010 5:01:42 GMT -5
Well, Jesus was all for the ends justifying the means. I think all religion has elements of that. They have to justify all the evil shit that they do in order to please their imaginary friends. It's all for a greater good. Even if you can't see that greater good -- god can so that's that. Every single religion? Hm. I guess they all do. But I guess it also depends on the person who worships. I mean, the Goddess doesn't demand much from me. Just say hi now and then and maybe light some incense. As for scare tactics... I don't know if it was a 'scare' tactic really but I was told if I kept praying I might one day be healed of all of my ailments (scoliosis, spina bifida, etc.,) and that if I didn't pray it would just get worse.
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Post by The_L on Oct 30, 2010 6:22:04 GMT -5
Mike Warnke -- He was exposed by a Christian magazine, Cornerstone: www.cornerstonemag.com/features/iss098/sellingsatan.htmI had never heard of Warnke until I started researching the satanic scare of the 80s. Naturally it would have been a Christian publication that exposed him. Outside of that sub-culture Warnke was an unknown. I know from those who were raised in a fundie home Warnke was well-known and most members of that group believed his satanic adventure story. For those outside of that culture there is no question. No investigation is necessary. It's obviously fiction and simply not believable. After Cornerstone exposed Warke many fundies were pissed (Brits: angry, not drunk) not at Warnke for lying to them but at the authors of the Cornerstone article for telling people that Warnke was lying. They think that because Warnke "brought people to Christ" he is a hero even if he was a liar. They have their priorities. Yeah, I was exposed to Warnke in 1994--AFTER that happened. Imagine, if you will, a 9-year-old girl being told that there is a secret organization of Satanists who routinely break all 10 commandments, mutilate peoples' pets, and eat babies. Imagine that this girl is also told that every single symbol that is not explicitly Christian is therefore Satanic. I had nightmares for weeks. I don't know if it was a 'scare' tactic really but I was told if I kept praying I might one day be healed of all of my ailments (scoliosis, spina bifida, etc.,) and that if I didn't pray it would just get worse. Yeah, that's a scare tactic all right. Next time someone tells you that, ask them if they'd like to test this theory personally and brandish your cane.
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Post by Shane for Wax on Oct 30, 2010 7:03:53 GMT -5
They lied to me. Thou shalt not lie to little children. ;-;
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