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Old 18th December 2012, 06:13 PM   #1
CplFerro
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Is this special pleading?

Dear JREF,

Is the conclusion that God can get away with being an unpleasant jerk an instance of special pleading?

Thanks,

Cpl Ferro
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Old 18th December 2012, 07:04 PM   #2
Good Lt
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Sort of? I mean, if you mention to a literalist that God did all kinds of nasty and frankly psychotic things to people throughout the Bible, you're bound to get the, "we'll, he's God and can do what he wants" line.

Generally, special pleading applies to a violation of the rules of logic (something can't come from nothing...except god). However, believers are also apt to grant god license to violate rules of common decency when it suits them as well.

No biggie. He's god, right?
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Old 19th December 2012, 02:29 AM   #3
HansMustermann
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Special pleading is when some accepted rule applies to everything except an event, entity or class, where for no adequate reason somehow something else is supposed to apply.

E.g., to use the Fallacy Files example, some police union was saying that police officers and even their family members should not get tickets for speeding. It's hard to see why such an exemption was made, since even a police officer in his free time isn't actually fulfilling and job duty by speeding. He's not catching robbers in his private car and in his free time or anything. But their family members? Exactly why should those be any more free to break the law than anyone else?

Note however that for it to be a fallacy it's crucial that no good reason exists that would justify such an exception. If a good reason exists for the exception (e.g., firemen on the way to a fire have a good reason to speed and go through red traffic lights) then it's not a fallacy.

As such, it's a bit iffy. Everyone arguing for such an exception thinks they do have a reason for it. E.g., the police union guy thought "professional courtesy" was reason enough for him to be exempt from traffic laws. It can often get into grey areas. But even when logic is clearly not on the side of the one wanting an exception, it can be an uphill battle to explain why.

Now let's apply that to God.

Just saying that he is a jerk or that he can get away with being a jerk is IMHO not special pleading. Depends on exactly what is meant, though. I mean, technically he CAN get away with anything. How would you stop him?

It's special pleading when for example one is well aware that behaviours X, Y and Z are immoral, but somehow they're moral when God does that. E.g., it would be immoral and evil if, say, the North Korean government were to torture an innocent and kill his sons and employees just to see exactly how much faith he has in the government, but it's somehow moral and good when God does it to Job. That's the kind of thing that is special pleading about God.
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Old 19th December 2012, 02:44 AM   #4
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Black Holes hate logical debates, they always are forced into reverting to special pleading....
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