![]() The Scotsman replies that no “true” Scotsman would do such a thing, thereby making himself immune to counterexample. Subsequently, it is discovered that the rapist/murderer is John McDonald of Aberdeen. It is a nice example of the self-sealing fallacy – also known as the “no true Scotsman” fallacy.Ī Scotsman reads of a horrific rape and murder in London and tells his wife that no Scotsman would do such a thing. ![]() Apparently, this is not so.Ĭhristopher Hitchens advances the argument in the following clips: “ God is Not Great (1/5)” and “ God is Not Great (2/5).” The first time I encountered it, I incorrectly imagined it was just one person’s confusion. This is the idea that Hitler, Stalin and Mao Zedong were not “real” atheists, communism and fascism are not genuinely atheistic, and neither were their followers, and that their ill-deeds cannot be laid at the feet of atheism. An obvious response is to point at the horrors perpetrated by explicitly atheistic political movements in the twentieth century to claim that actually, things get much worse – atheism ruins everything. ![]() ![]() ![]() Some modern militant atheists like to claim things like “religion ruins everything.” Or that the planet would be so much better off without a belief in God. ![]()
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