The Hubris of Huckabee and His Ilk

As Mike Huckabee slips further out of touch (but a little deeper into the hearts of Christianists around the country), I got to thinking about the source of his appeal -- by which I mean the rhetoric upon which he calls in an attempt to persuade of his calling. His pitch, in other words, not his likeability -- which, I have to say, seems pretty solid.

The problem with Huck and his followers is their insistence that they have found an Eternal Truth. Transformative and unchanging. While I say bully for them if they feel this way, but please keep your nose out of my opinion of what constitutes Eternal Truth.

Just because you choose to believe something is true doesn't make it true. Just because a lot of other people are convinced something is true doesn't make it true. The Muslims have no tangible evidence of Allah's existence, nor do the Jews have any proof that Yahweh really is G*d. Christians have the exact same amount of evidence for God's existence as the folks who offer the Flying Spaghetti Monster as the One and True God.

You are welcome to convince yourself God exists. You are welcome to try and convince others. But when it comes to how we live in the United States as a civil society, let's keep our discourse backed up by things which virtually all of us can agree on. Simple stuff like the speed of light, the effects of gravity or what happens when you mix vinegar and baking soda. It's something everyone can see.

But when hard-core Christianists get to the end of their rational arguments, and find them lacking, they call in an invisible magical being as their ace in the hole. As the Church Lady used to say, "how conveeeeenient."

The trouble really begins when another group (say, just for giggles, Al Qaeda) calls on their invisible magical being to backup THEIR argument when rational thought and scientific facts don't support whatever point they are trying to make.

The absolute hubris of it -- to think that what YOU believe is an Eternal Truth. Worse, to then try to use the power you have obtained by duping others into believing an opinion is hard fact.