10AR15-25

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Apologia Report 15:25 (1,030)

July 8, 2010

Subject: Hindus, Muslims blast Franklin Graham for "intolerance"

In this issue:

CHRISTOLOGY - responding to critics of the "trilemma" argument

popularized by C.S. Lewis

GRAHAM, FRANKLIN - Billy's son in hot water again over exclusivist views

SCIENTOLOGY - new book-length exposé from the former head of its Celebrity Centers network

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CHRISTOLOGY

"Identity Check" by Donald T. Williams -- opens: "No argument that C.S. Lewis ever made is more well known - or more controversial - than his famous 'Trilemma' (not his word), or 'Lord/Liar/Lunatic' (not his phrase) argument for the deity of Christ" found in Mere Christianity, book II, chapter 3 [1]. Williams summarizes that "the attempts to show that the Trilemma omits valid but unconsidered options all fail. In order to reject Lewis's argument, you have to affirm that a person in his right mind can sincerely but mistakenly believe, not simply that he has been visited by an angel, but that he is Almighty God, the Creator of the Universe, and still retain any credibility on anything else he might say. Since very few people are prepared to accept that

conclusion, Lewis's critics are forced to try to undermine his

argument by sneakily substituting a straw man for it. Refuting that

weak substitution, they then pretend to have refuted the Trilemma."

Williams observes that "Lewis's critics contend that his argument commits the fallacy of False Dilemma, the premature closure of options. ... If it can be shown that there are other legitimate possibilities for how to understand the claims of Christ, it is urged, that argument fails.

"These other suggested possibilities fall into two categories.

First is the possibility that either Jesus did not actually make the

claims attributed to him or, even if he did, he did not mean them as the bald claims to deity for which conservative Christians have taken them.

"The second is the possibility that someone could be sincerely

mistaken about his identity without being insane in a way that would compromise his views of ethics or his status and authority as a moral teacher."

Williams reviews the critics' speculations about what Jesus both

said and meant. As many of them would have it, "You can in theory be mistaken about your identity without being insane *and* without having false views of ethics." Williams explains how this amounts to "a clever sleight of hand known as the fallacy of Equivocation." Touchstone, May/Jun '10, pp25-29.

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GRAHAM, FRANKLIN

"American Evangelist Attacks Hindus and Muslims" (no byline) --

"Activists of the Indian-American community and the Hindu American Foundation have denounced Reverend Franklin Graham, the son and heir apparent of evangelist Reverend Billy Graham, for maligning Hinduism during an interview where he largely continued his attacks on Islam. In an interview to the USA Today newspaper on May 4 [www.tinyurl.com/2uw9jaa], renewed his attacks on Islam, which he had done a day earlier with the conservative media outlet Newsmax [www.tinyurl.com/2g7vm2c], saying, 'Muslims do not worship the same God the Father I worship,' and then took a nasty swipe at Hinduism's many manifestations of God. 'None of their 9,000 Gods is going to lead me to salvation. We are fooling ourselves if we think we can have some big kumbaya service and all hold hands and it's all going to get better in this world. It's not going to get better,' Franklin Graham said in the controversial interview.

"Suhag Shukla, managing director and legal counsel, Hindu American Foundation said, 'Graham's hate-filled stab at Hindus represents the worst of Christian bigotry and thankfully the fastest-waning segment of Christian-Americans.' She noted that 'surveys have shown that Americans, a majority of whom are Christian, are increasingly subscribing to a more Hindu-like worldview. Well-regarded surveys like Pew [www.tinyurl.com/2998m6w] and Harris [www.tinyurl.com/2a47gyk] have found that 65 percent of Americans, 37 percent of whom are white evangelicals, believe that many religions can lead to Eternal Life and 24 percent believe in reincarnation. These findings combined with the continued exponential rise in popularity of Hindu spirituality and yoga, I believe, shed better light on the true nature of Graham's

statement,' Shukla said, adding, 'that they are more desperate cries of a shepherd trying to recapture a fleeing flock than a

representative voice of Christians in America.'

"She acknowledged that 'Graham fails to recognise the role that his brand of narrow-minded Christianity as well as other fundamentalist interpretations of the world's religions have played in not only many of our nation's problems but those of the world, including terrorism, wars, violation of civil rights, human rights, atrocities and annihilation of entire cultures and communities.'

"Shukla noted 'American pluralism is a reality and the sooner

Graham and those like him accept it, the sooner we'll be able to move on and address the pressing issues facing our nation, regardless of all of our different colors and creeds.'" Hindu Press International, Jun 9 '10. HPI cites the following link as a source for this story: <www.tinyurl.com/24k4ffx>

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SCIENTOLOGY

"Ex-Scientologist Reveals Details Behind 'Dangerous Cult,' Tom Cruise in New Book" by Mike Hess -- "A new book is looking to pull back the curtain on the mysterious religion founded by L. Ron Hubbard, and the author certainly knows her stuff. Amy Scobee is a former Scientologist who was in the church for more than two decades, and worked in the all-important Celebrity Centers portion of the organization. In her just-released book, Scientology: Abuse at the Top [2], Scobee details all of the troubling things she saw that made her flee what she once called her trusted religion, but now refers to as a 'dangerous cult.'" Scobee reports on the brainwashing, systematic violence and slave labor camps" that she experienced first hand.

She explains: "I was responsible for the international network of

Celebrity Centers, which service people in the field of the arts,

government and sports - people with high profiles in the world who are capable of creating a lot of influence on the population. ...

"David Miscavige [the current leader of Scientology] committed

assault and battery on my friends on numerous occasions."

Hess asks: "Recently, reports surfaced claiming that David

Miscavige played Tom Cruise's confession tapes - which are meant to be private - to fellow church members for a laugh over drinks. Does that seem like something he'd do, or have you known this to be true?

Scobee replies: "Yes - David Miscavige talked about people's

private confidential information. I witnessed this myself. I included

some specifics of this in my book regarding another celebrity. He also did it to staff - snickering about things that came up in their

confessionals and TELLING the specifics to whoever was at the meeting with him at the time. He did that to me. And he did that to many, many others. Including calling all-base staff briefings and reporting embarrassing details about supposed transgressions in order to intimidate people. One of my friends told me how Miscavige and he were standing outside when staff were walking between buildings - like for lunch break or something - and he pointed to random people giving 'tid-bits' on each one as they passed, to 'prove' how much 'in the know' he is. ...

"The Rehabilitation Project Force, which I cover in detail in my

book.... is a slave labor camp within the Sea Organization where

people who have supposedly messed up get sent for sometimes years and years. They are separated from family, segregated from the rest of the group, made to run everywhere, put on hard manual physical work and paid 1/4 the regular staff pay - about $12 per WEEK. I've known several people on that program for over a decade for minor offenses. ...

"Scientology specializes in information control - one is banned

from upper levels of 'spiritual enlightenment' if it is discovered

that you read anything negative about Scientology or talked to someone about it. People are put in for routine confessionals to find out if you 'committed this sin.' ...

"Something dangerous about Scientology is that they truly believe that they are the 'only salvation' for mankind. They therefore consider they can do all sorts of things - even if it breaks the law - because it's 'the greatest good' and forwards their overall mission to ensure everyone's future eternity. Crush a critic into silence, lie on national television, beat a staff member who is not behaving as you'd like, blackmail people using family disconnection and other threats to keep them in line, use personal information obtained on people to smear their name, keep people on the RPF for years, force staff to work around the clock for almost no pay, hide evidence that could be damning if it were discovered - on and on. They are fanatics about being the ONLY salvation and the end justifies the means.

"Germany recently declared Scientology a cult. Do you think that's an accurate definition?

"Yes - I believe Scientology is actually a dangerous cult. By

definition, a 'destructive cult' is a religion or other group which

has caused or has a high probability of causing harm to its own

members or to others. Some researchers define 'harm' in this case with a narrow focus, specifically groups which have deliberately physically injured or killed other individuals, while others define the term more broadly and include emotional abuse among the types of harm inflicted. Both physical and spiritual/mental abuse has occurred, and from what I understand is continuing to occur, within Scientology - at its highest ranks." PopEater.com, May 13 '10, <www.tinyurl.com/2bahu9t>.

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SOURCES: Monographs

1 - Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis (HarperSanFrancisco, 2001,

paperback, 227 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/2exlzjz>

2 - Scientology: Abuse At the Top, by Amy Scobee (Scobee Pub, 2010, hardcover, 236 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/23qww4p>

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