The hypocrisy and double standards of mainstream religion

By Mano Singham

Taking a cue from George Orwell's 1946 essay Politics and the English Language, one can say that religious speech and writing, like political lanuage, are largely the defense of the indefensible, designed to make lies sound truthful, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.

But while such people disdain magical thinking, rightly realizing that such things are blatantly anti-science, these sophisticated believers tend not to harshly criticize the magical thinking of their own co-religionists. Instead they turn their fire on the magical thinking of believers in other religions.

As Jerry Coyne says:

The question of why bizarre Christian beliefs are treated with more respect than the equally bizarre tenets of Scientology has a simple answer. "Modern" religions, like Scientology and Mormonism, seem more bizarre simply because they’ve arrived on the scene only recently, making their man-made nature more apparent, and because their adherents are not in the majority.

Indeed, next to the problem of evil, the problem of Why My Religion Is The Only True One is the greatest of all arguments against faith. Christians — or adherents to any other religion — can simply give no good account of why their beliefs are the right ones, while those of Hindus, Scientologists, and Muslims are badly wrong. It would be a dishonest Christian who would deny that had he been born in Saudi Arabia, he would be as big an advocate for Muhammed as he is now for Jesus. Ask an evangelical Christian how he knows for certain that all Muslims and Jews are going to hell! Believe me, the answer won’t satisfy you.

These sophisticates often employ a hypocritical double standard, ridiculing other religions as false or even absurd while being quick to complain whenever anyone attacks their own religion. A prime example of such behavior is columnist Andrew Sullivan, a Catholic. Coyne blasts him for carrying on a sustained campaign of ridicule against Scientology (calling is a 'super adventure club') while being the first to whine when atheists criticize the equally bizarre beliefs and practices of the Catholic Church.

In an earlier post on Scientology I linked to the South Park video that made fun of that religion and flat out accused it of being a scam. I was reminded by commenter Eric that they had done a similar show on the Mormons that you can see here.

So South Park has made fun of the core beliefs and origins of Mormonism and Scientology. I do not know if South Park has done any shows making fun of the core beliefs of Christians, Muslims, or Jews. I suspect not because there would have been a huge hue and cry but if anyone has information on this please let me know.

If Mormons and Scientologists wanted to, they could fight back by ridiculing Christianity, Judaism, and Islam the same way that they are ridiculed. They could portray Christianity in the manner of The Atheist Camel who defines it in 110 words as:

The belief that a walking dead Jewish deity who was his own father although he always existed, commits suicide by cop, although he didn’t really die, in order to give himself permission not to send you to an eternal place of torture that he created for you, but instead to make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh, drink his blood, and telepathically promise him you accept him as your master, so he can cleanse you of an evil force that is present in mankind because a rib-woman and a mud-man were convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree.

But they cannot do so. It is not because their beliefs are more ridiculous but because they are not the dominant religion. What they instead try to do is protect themselves by trying to pull the protective blanket of mainstream religions to cover themselves too. For example, Mormons often try to argue that they are just another denomination of Christianity, who happen to have some extra prophets and holy books. They are helped in this effort by the realization of some mainstream religious believers that the arguments used to discredit Mormonism and Scientology can boomerang, as this Jesus and Mo cartoon strip points out.

Marina Hyde at the Guardian, commenting on the interview that the Scientology spokesperson had with ABC News's Martin Bashir, ruthlessly exposes the hypocrisy of those who protect some religions while attacking others.

Clearly, Scientologists should be forced to justify their doctrinal lunacies – the only sadness is that other religions are apparently exempt from having to do the same. Imagine for a moment a Bashir-type interviewing some senior cardinal. "So," he might inquire, "you're saying that by some magic the communion wafer actually becomes the flesh of a man who died 2,000 years ago, a man who – and I don't want to put words into your mouth here – we might categorise as an imaginary friend who can hear the things you're thinking in your head? And when you've done that, do you mind going over the birth control stuff?"

What a shame that we see rather fewer of these exchanges, however amusing and useful a sideshow Scientology may be.

Very true.

POST SCRIPT: ABC's Nightline report on Scientology

The news program interviews Jenna Mescavige, the niece of the current leader of the church of Scientology to learn about what happened to her and others when they decided that the church was abusive and controlling and wanted to leave.

Part One:

Part Two:

(My latest book God vs. Darwin: The War Between Evolution and Creationism in the Classroom has just been released. For more on the book, see here. You can also listen to the podcast of the interview on WCPN 90.3 about the book.)