My Revised Take on the "Jewish Philosopher"

In a previous post, I mentioned that I though the Jewish Philosopher was someone who, well, let's just say that I thought he lived in a different reality than the rest of us. However, after conversing with him further (yeah, I know... I'm a glutton for punishment), I'm starting to become convinced that he is quite sane and doesn't actually believe a word of what he publishes. IOW, he is simply "poisoning the well" for the ultra-fundamentalists.

Why do I think this? Based on our last exchange.

Another poster: read Rav kook's essays on atheism before sounding off anymore on atheism.

JP: Sorry, but this blog doesn't follow Rav Kook.

Me: Okay, so which Rav does it follow? Who is the Rav who would advocate what you are advocating?

<<>>

JP: If you only read blogs which are written under rabbinical supervision, I'm sorry, this blog is not. I do not have a rabbinical supervisor.

Me: You mean that you're advocating breaking up thousands of families, throwing thousands of people into permanent homelessness, forcing them to undergo lie-detector, STD and drug tests, and you haven't even discussed this with a Rav at all??!

JP: Yup.

I find it hard to believe that any ultra-fundamentalist would want to set up the program that he does without actually consulting a Rav at all. As such, I am forced to conclude that he doesn't really believe any of the stuff he spouts. He's simply putting on an act.

The Wolf

You've Gotta Love Arguments Like These...

The Jewish Philosopher* has a post about the Flood on his blog. In his post, he brings up the questions that many people have about the flood -- where did the water come from, where did it go, how did all the animals fit, etc. He then answers it by stating, simply, that God did it. Or, to use his words:

The answer is: God did it. In other words, these events cannot be explained according to the laws of physics, chemistry, biology etc. They can only be explained by miraculous divine intervention.

He follows this up later by taking the view that the lack of evidence (and, perhaps, the evidence of lack) does not matter. He says:

There is no geological evidence of the Biblical Deluge, however when one considers the miraculous nature of the Deluge, this is hardly surprising. Surely no one would argue that the lack of scorch marks on Mount Sinai proves that the Ten Commandments were never given there.

OK, that's fine. If you choose to simply ignore all the physical evidence and posit that God deliberately created counter-evidence to a global flood, you're free to do so. *I* don't believe it, but I won't stand in your way of believing it either.

However, in the same post where he says that physical evidence doesn't matter, he brings archaeological evidence of the dating of the Flood**. In other words, his position is this: where evidence exists to support me, I welcome it. Where evidence exists against my position, I'll simply ignore it by saying "God did it..."

You've gotta love these "heads I win, tails you lose" games.

The Wolf

Related posts:

Exactly Whom Is Doing The Arguing? (on the approach Young Earth Creationists SHOULD take)
Of All God's Miracles Large and Small (on the Flood and miracles)


* Believe it or not, this is the post I was going to publish about the Jewish Philosopher today, not the one I put up earlier today.
** I'm not going to comment on whether or not his evidence is correct or not. It's not relevant to the point.

How NOT To Treat Frum Atheists

The Jewish Philosopher has a frightening post on his site about how to deal with the issue of "frum" atheists. After giving some examples of people who are outwardly frum but secretly atheistic and violate halacha, (and, without any proof or assertion, blaming the problem of the Monsey chicken scandal, drugs and sexually transmitted diseases in the frum community on athiests), he comes up with a solution to this problem:

I would suggest that anyone who suspects his spouse or child of being a secret atheist should ask that person to take a lie detector test, during which he will be asked about his belief in the divine origin of the Torah. In addition, he should be asked to take an STD test and a hair drug test. A refusal to be tested should be taken as an admission of guilt.

Once a person is found to be guilty, then all communications with him should be severed permanently and his name, address and photograph should be published on a website established for this purpose.

Yeah, that's the ticket. Break up his family and have him publicly shunned and humiliated. By all means, let's not work on possibily being mekarev him. No, instead let's make it so that (a) he'll never want to come back and (b) even if he wanted to come back, he can't since he'll be on the official "banned list."

So, any spouse or parent can order a lie detector test? What about a neighbor? What if I think my son's friend's parents are closet athiests? Can I have them tested for drugs and STDs? What next? A website to publish the photographs, names and addresses of those who dare to converse with those on the official "banned list?"

Viva la Inquisition!

The Wolf

EDIT: (10/30/08 4:25PM)
Never mind... I just found out that JP/JS doesn't inhabit the same reality that you and I do.

Here's the clincher:

JP: Get rid of the pot, coke, porn and whores and open the gemora and eventually you will believe in God.

Me: What about atheists who don't use pot, coke, porn or whores? What about atheists who do learn Gemara?

JP: Show me one.

Me: Are you stating that you believe that *every* secret atheist in the frum community uses pot, coke, porn and whores? Are you stating that *not one* secret atheist learns Gemara?

JP: Yeah

So, never mind. I'll just leave him to his little fantasy world.

The Wolf