The Downfall of Theistic Fallacies

PARODY - please read.

Replacement video for Guilt by Association Fallacy. I have modified the script slightly and added sound effects and an optimistic ending.

Hi Q: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ljY7DwfnSk&fmt=18

"Untergang" (Downfall) must be the most parodied piece of film in recent memory. The film centres upon the last days of Adolf Hitler, who is the subject of particularly ridiculous religionist arguments. So, I have altered the script to highlight these fallacies of logic employed by theists.

First, the "Hitler was an atheist fallacy" is a desperate "tu quoque" fallacy (you too) that attempts to turn back the accusation that religion does harm. There is so much evidence that religion has done, and continues to do, harm that this ploy is doomed. So, this attempt also commits the "two wrongs don't make a right" fallacy.

Second, the tu quoque attempts to poison the well against atheism by employing the "guilt by association" fallacy. The reality is that even if Hitler had, despite his own words, been an atheist this would not make disbelief in deities an invalid position.

For Hitlers own words see:
http://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/quotes_hitler.html

Samples of Hitler's attribution of part of his motivation to religion.

"We were convinced that the people needs and requires this faith. We have therefore undertaken the fight against the atheistic movement, and that not merely with a few theoretical declarations: we have stamped it out."
( Adolf Hitler, in a speech delivered in Berlin, October 24, 1933. )

"I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so."
( Adolf Hitler, from John Toland [Pulitzer Prize winner], Adolf Hitler, New York: Anchor Publishing, 1992, p. 507. )

"Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord."
( Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Ralph Mannheim, ed., New York: Mariner Books, 1999, p. 65. )

Category:

Education

Tags:

• fallacies
• of
• logic
• guilt
• by
• association
• tu
• quoque
• two
• wrongs
• right
• Untergang
• Downfall
• Adolf
• Hitler
• Stalin
• Mussolini
• fundamentalism
• theism
• creationism
• religion
• atheism
• antitheism
• antireligion

[Archaenum]

Every so often, an uneducated, illogical fool lands on this video and makes an utterly stupid, unpunctuated comment such as, "Idiots Hitler was an Atheist".

The video, information box, and my comments address the two lines of reasons that demonstrate why such comments are stupid. First, facts. Second, fallacies of logic.

[jorgekluney]

You really believe that Hitler was a Catholic? You take one quote to support your position after crying about "poisoning the well"?

[Archaenum]

Hitler clearly stated his position in Mein Kampf.

Statements of fact are not well-poisoning.

Is that the best argument that you can concoct? Are you defending Hitler's actions because he was a Catholic boy?

[Valkes]

I'd just like to say that this is one of the best recaptionings,<-- that's not a real word lol, of this video clip I've seen. The logic, quotation, and sources provided are exceptional, thanks for the lesson. =D

[Squiglypig]

That is true. But when a tyrant believes that he has a higher power behind him and that he is justified in every action he takes, he becomes even more of a threat. It might (read: Will) motivate him into doing even more sinister things than he would otherwise do, because he believes that he will be rewarded for it in the afterlife.

[Archaenum]

Wrong. Christians use tu quoque fallacies repeatedly -- in this and other contexts.

Theists evoke Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, etc in response to atheistic complaints that religion has done, and continues to do, harm. In this sense, their arguments are not merely tu quoques, but they are inaccurate because none of the megalomaniacal authoritarian atrocities ordered by these fiends were motivated by atheism per se.

Bye.

[jorgekluney]

Actually, what theists are doing is not the "tu quoque fallacy". It would only be so if it was ONLY offered in reply to the comment that "theists are evil". If the theist is trying to support the argument that "in the absense of God anything goes, no right, no wrong" then it certainly is not a tu quoque reply.

[Archaenum]

You're right -- of course it would make no difference to the veracity of god claims.

However, that is the logical, rational approach to the question. Fervent religionists are not high on logic, so they are swayed by such fallacies. They are trained to revere "belief" as "truth".

It's interesting that they are using the "Hitler was an atheist" fallacy much less often than before. If we repeatedly knock their illogic down, they have to switch over to the latest propagandistic device.

[riseofatheism]

So what difference does it make if Hitler or Stalin were both atheists acting in the name of atheism? Does that suddenly make the god claim true? hmmm. umm. no

[Archaenum]

The likes of terrec cannot, or will not, see that Stalin and other megalomaniacal despots were motivated by power, and not by ideology. This is also true of megalomaniacal despots who happened to be religious. There are considerably more of the religious brand of tyrant scattered through history.

History also demonstrates that religious ideology, rather than the lack thereof, has caused considerable misery. This includes the Shoah (for which theists try to exculpate religion).