Friday, May 7, 2010

#6: Steven Anderson


Our sixth loon, Steven Anderson, is a rather frightening one.

An Arizona-based pastor at Faithful Word Baptist Church, Anderson is famous for sermons where he fervently prays (and asks his congregation to pray) for the death and eternal torment of people who disagree with him (mostly president Obama, democrats and gays), including urging his congregation to murder his enemies (i.e. gays and liberals). Strong advocate of Old Testament morality (“God didn’t change his mind”) but oblivious to the cognitive dissonance it brings with it. No qualms about lying about his opponents. Convinced that gays are currently bringing an end to America (and that liberals are really disguised gays – Anderson has several ad hominem arguments of the kind ‘x says p; x is a liberal; hence x is gay, hence p is false, a lie and part of a scheme to bring down America’).

Discussed here, for instance:
http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/2009/08/gospel-of-hate-arizona-pastor-steve.html

and here: http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2009/08/fred_phelps_jr_steven_anderson.php

Diagnosis: Deranged, vile and very possibly clinically insane. Fred Phelps wannabe. Very dangerous to the extent that some of his (presumably relatively small) congregation might actually do what he tells them to do.

16 comments:

  1. Hi Ryan! Nice post you have here, very interesting and informative! Macphoto recommended your blog, so I thought I would stop by and say hi! :)

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  2. Greetings. I came from Macphotos blog on Xanga.

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  3. Hi! And thanks, I'm glad you're enjoying it so far.

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  4. ha! who knew I had any measure of influence, lol.

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  5. After being out of the limelight for a year or so, Anderson seems to have decided to increase the volume.

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  6. By the way, that is NOT an "ad hominem argument" - it is a syllogistic fallacy. BIG difference.

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    1. Well, *any* invalid argument is strictly speaking a syllogistic fallacy, I suppose. But "x says p; x is bad/liberal/gay/stupid/Canadian ...; therefore p is false" *is* the schema that defines an ad hominem fallacy.

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  7. and the encyclopedia of american loons is essentially 1100 (so far) ad hominem listings against people who oppose the following agendas: gay rights, global warming, hiv real, rockefeller medical base, obamacare, darwin and vaccines. also the people in the list tend to be pro bible and pro christian. my point is that the list is based in adhominem jargon and does not admit to the agendas it advances. nor does it offer any support for the medical system as it exists.

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    1. No, you don't get it. The people listed are listed because they display poor critical thinking skills and (consequently) science denial, conspiracy mongering and failure to align their beliefs with reality. The listings are not based on ad hominem reasoning (though from your use of the term "ad hominem" I suspect that you don't really know what "ad hominem reasoning" is and what it isn't); all "accusations" of lunacy are underpinned by evidence.

      And how on earth do you get to the conclusion that twe do "not admit to the agendas it advances"? The agenda is to expose science denialism and poor reasoning, and that agenda is hardly hidden, is it?

      "... nor does it offer any support for the medical system as it exists."

      I have no idea what you are talking about. As a matter of fact, the blog avoids politics over and above - once again - science denialism, conspiracy theories and religious fundamentalism. It takes, for instance, no stance on Obamacare - Obamacare figures only when lunatic wingnuts and conspiracy theorists apply idiotic arguments to that particular topic.

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  8. I'm sorry! Yet another cotten shirt, polyester jacket and silk tie. Death sentence. (To the farm. Immediately!

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  9. Yes, he definitely is in the news again, here in Phoenix. The really scary part, to me, is who are the 100 (+ or -) morons in the congregation listening to, and responding to, this lunatic!

    The rumor has it that said lunatic may be the illegitimate son of Fred Phelps. Oh, and since I've been an atheist since my soph year at ASU, I guess I'm gay. Little did I know. Praise the lord!

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  10. And he's an anti-semite, too.

    http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/blog/?p=33519

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  11. Most outrageous of all, he is a virulent sexist who doesn't believe women should have the right to vote or that women should work at all. They should live at home until they get married. He is on the record of saying both.

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