The Bigotry Discussion

[Editor's note: After I published last week's article about the UCF professor's assessments of students who believe in Christianity as bigots, I e-mailed him a copy. Usually, people do not respond in such situations; so it was surprising to receive a response and have a follow-up discussion. Those e-mails are contained below. Comments beginning with GS are mine; those beginning with CN are Professor Negy's.]

GS: Here is a response to the article featuring you and your views on August 25th. It is available on our Website, www.spiritualperspectives.org.

CN: The views you expressed in your letter are quite silly and you fit the bill for being a religious bigot.

Gary, let me walk you through this very simplistically:

What is a soul? Seriously, what is it? What evidence do you have that would demonstrate to a person walking about in the jungles who has never heard of the concept—to have confidence that a "soul" is anything real? If you choose to write back, please start by answering this very simple question.

Where is heaven? Seriously, Gary, where is it? We have the stars and planets we can see; so where do you think heaven is? Please be specific (and not act like a child by pointing to the sky).

Where is hell? Specifically, where is it?

What is an "angel"? A "devil"?

Gary, a critical thinker learns to distinguish ideas based on evidence versus ideas that are purely fantasies implanted in them by adults when they are children.

Remember, if you're going to waste my time by responding, please respond to the questions (and please [like, please] don't think that a book you can buy for $5.99 at a place like Walmart is "evidence" for any of these things.

GS: Do they sell books that cheaply at Wal-Mart?

First, I see that your name calling persists. You continue to use the word bigot.

Second, your assessment of my writing as "silly" either indicates that you did not actually read it or that it was easier to call it "silly" than to respond to any of the points made in it. Like most people who are accustomed to intimidating others—especially students—you wish to control the discussion and have it on your own terms. I'm not one of your students.

I will happily answer your questions, but first you should address your erroneous definition of bigotry. So, let me make this easy.

True – False. I, Professor Negy, disagree with the definition of a bigot in Webster's 2nd International Dictionary.

If you will answer that question, I will answer yours.

CN: Bigotry is prejudice against another person due to their creed, or group membership.

Either in your previous message to me or the completely irrational, unsubstantiated "letter" you wrote, you stated that Christianity is not one of the more valid religions, it is the only valid religion. (that's what you wrote, no?).

If so, that is bigotry. You think the other religions are "less than" your religion.

Gary, you are an American. Your mom and dad and neighbors brainwashed you to believe in the silly mythology of Christianity.

If you would have been raised in India, you'd be pounding your chest and proclaiming Hinduism is the only valid religion. Had you been raised in Saudi Arabia, you'd be shouting, "Allah is great!"

All believers (with few exceptions) are just embracing whatever their parents and culture brainwashed them in. You are no exception.

GS: In vain I searched your response for the word true or false but failed to find it. All that you did was to substitute your own definition once again and insist that you are right. Which one of us, do you think, looks more scholarly? I have provided an objective definition from a reliable and impartial source, and you give your opinion as to the meaning of the word. So, I present you the simple true – false statement once again and will look for an answer.

As soon as you can answer true or false, I will deal with your four questions.

As to your comments, you have really not said anything new or original that Christians have not heard time and again.

To declare something as true and other things false is neither bigotry nor prejudice. If you declare that 2 + 2 = 4 (assuming we are using the base 10), does that mean you are prejudiced against the numbers 3 and 5? Obviously not. In saying that Christianity is the only valid religion and that all other religions are invalid, we are simply stating a truth based upon evidence.

This fact does not imply a lack of love or respect for those who believe error. It does no harm to them nor denies them any rights. Certainly, Christians have no ill will toward others whatsoever. Our acknowledgement of the truth in no way fits the definition of bigotry that you keep trying vainly to label us with.

You should not make assumptions about other people. I was never brainwashed with Christianity as a child. In fact, I did not seriously consider Christianity until I was a college student. (By the way, Christianity does not fit the definition of mythology.)

If I had been raised in India.... Hmm. I think you will recognize the name of Dinesh D'Souza, who actually was raised in India. I was present at UCF for his discussion with Christopher Hitchens, as you probably also were. True, his parents were Catholic, but India contains Muslims, Hindus, and other religions as well.

You have a better case with Saudi Arabia; many predominantly Muslim countries do not give any other religion a chance. Would you define that as bigotry?

You say you were raised Baptist, yet here you are today having rejected what you were raised with. You are the outstanding example of showing that no one needs to remain in what he was taught as a child. You disprove your own theory. So, if I am no exception (which you falsely assume), then neither are you. Perhaps you would do better to address facts than groundless theories.

CN: According to the Webster UNABRIDGED Dictionary in front of me:

Bigotry: Obstinate or blind attachment to a particular creed; unreasonable zeal toward a party, sect, or opinion; Excessive prejudice.

Bigoted: narrow-mindedness; prejudiced.

You and your followers who believe that your mythology is "truth" implies you think the other mythologies are falsehoods. That's simple logic. Thus, without any evidence of the validity of your mythology, you are quite passionate about your "attachment" to your "creed."

You and your followers are bigots. Just because you do not like to accept that, does not make it go away.

Of course Christianity is a myth. As Einstein told a friend, it is quite childish thinking. Do you really think animals talked? Burning bushes talked? A person could gather up a pair of all the animals in the world and care for them for 40 days on a boat? An illiterate peasant named Jesus could actually turn water into wine?

You have NO evidence for ANY of those things occurring. You have no evidence he (Jesus) came back to life. You simply believe all that silliness because everyone around you believes it.

A soul is not real, Gary. Humans invented that concept to help them believe they could live forever.

And of course you and Dinesh and all the believers around the world are brainwashed by those all around them. There are only some exceptions of individuals abandoning the "faith" of their parents or culture. The vast majority of people, especially you, embrace the mythology of their culture.

If you have any evidence for a soul, heaven, hell, angels, or "Satan," I invite you to bring the evidence to my Cross-Cultural Psychology class and lay the evidence out for all of us to scrutinize it.

GS: Is true or false too complicated for you? I can't convince myself that someone with your academic attainments could actually have trouble agreeing or disagreeing with such a respected source as Webster's 2nd International Dictionary, which all libraries, including university libraries, carried as a standard work for decades before replacing it with the 3rd edition.

So let me tell you why you refuse to answer true or false. If you answer false, you give up the definition you invented. If you answer true, then you are in the unenviable position of disagreeing with a major impartial, scholarly source, and it would make you look bad. Your refusal to answer the question also makes you look bad, but apparently you don't see that.

I have no trouble with the definition that you cite, however, and, had you asked, I would say I agree with it. But that definition does not help your case, Dr. Negy, because it qualifies bigotry as "blind attachment" and "unreasonable zeal." You have no evidence that I or thousands of others believe what we believe "blindly." Your continued assertions of such do not constitute evidence. This definition which you supplied implies that there can be genuine attachment and zeal based upon knowledge. Is it possible you overlooked these facts?

Since you brought up logic and have undoubtedly been trained in logical argumentation, why don't you set forth a syllogism, the conclusion of which is: "All who say that Christianity is the only valid religion are bigots."

I notice that when examples and data are supplied which demonstrate the fallacy of your claims, you just ignore the point. You brought up India, and when I gave an example of one who is not a Hindu (D'Souza), you just ignored it and threw out a few more insults and assumptions.

So, D'Souza, I, and all others who believe in Christianity are brainwashed. How blessed we all are, Dr. Negy, to have you, the only un-brainwashed, unbiased, unprejudiced person in the entire universe, to straighten us out! After you formulate your other syllogism, why don't you work on one that proves: "All who believe in Christianity are brainwashed." That is what you said, is it not?

I can disprove your culture argument. Christians have been successful in converting those of other cultures to the truth. From Malawi, West Africa, to the Philippines, to Kiev, Ukraine, to American Samoa and several Pacific Islands, to Australia, etc., there are hundreds of thousands of people who are "some exceptions" to your theory. Would you like for me to arrange for a missionary to come to your class to give a PowerPoint presentation that refutes your groundless claims?

CN: You seem to be obsessed with that little pocket dictionary you have. Get over it. It's not the only definition in town. The definitions I gave you ALSO came from a dictionary. Words are malleable. Stop being so rigid in your thinking.

Also, I'm aware that there are some individuals who abandon their parents' brainwashing and endorse some other belief. However they are not the majority of people. If I had to guess, probably over 90% of people embrace the same mythology as their parents and/or culture, including yourself.

You seem to idolize D'Souza. He's not that big of a deal. He embarrassed himself in his debate with Hitchens. Not to mention, he just resigned from his Presidency post at some evangelical college because of his adultery and apparently was about to engage in bigamy (getting himself engaged to another woman while still married to his first wife). He's an intellectual lightweight.

I indeed was brainwashed by my uneducated, southern Baptist parents. Took me decades to start asking very simple, but poignant questions. Where is the evidence that Jesus was even a real person, much less "walked on water?" Again, that silly, mythological book written by middle eastern, misogynistic nomads called the Bible, is NOT evidence for anything. Where's the evidence of a soul, Gary (it has not escaped me that you have not offered any evidence for a soul, or where heaven is, and so on).

Please do not send any unethical missionary to my class; I'll kick them out. The audacity to go to poor people, and exploit their poverty by offering them food and blankets in exchange for them to bow down to the mythological Christian God.

Last for now, Gary, may I politely ask you to...get a life...and leave me alone? I did not arrogantly contact you and start harassing you over your silly beliefs. I'm not interested in your views because your views are just silly repetitions of dogma related to your mythology. You're free to believe what you want. It is highly unlikely that any scholarly venue would ever invite you to speak to hear what you have to say because...you're just a parrot repeating Christian dogma.

[All e-mails were written on October 22nd-23rd, 2012.]