The Outsider Test for Faith (OTF) - Debunking Christianity

Debunking Christianity: The Outsider Test for Faith (OTF) is Not Hard to Understand

By John W. Loftus at 6/21/2011
 

When believers criticize the other faiths they reject, they use reason and science to do so. They assume these other religions have the burden of proof. They assume human not divine authors to their holy book(s). They assume a human not a divine origin to their faiths.

Believers do this when rejecting other faiths. So dispensing all of the red herrings about morality and a non-material universe, the OTF simply asks believers to do unto their own faith what they do unto other faiths. All it asks of them is to be consistent.

The OTF asks why believers operate on a double standard. If that's how they reject other faiths then they should apply that same standard to their own. Let reason and science rather than faith be their guide. Assume your own faith has the burden of proof. Assume human rather than divine authors to your holy book(s) and see what you get. If there is a divine author behind the texts it should be known even with that initial skeptical assumption.

So the OTF uses the exact same standard that believers use when rejecting other religions. If there is any inconsistency at all it is not with the OTF. It is how believers assess truth claims. For it should only take a moment’s thought to realize that if there is a God who wants people born into different religious cultures to believe, who are outsiders, then that religious faith SHOULD pass the OTF.

If Christians want to reject the OTF then either they must admit they have a double standard for examining religious faiths, one for their own faith and a different one for others, or their faith was not made to pass the OTF in the first place. In either case all of their arguments against the OTF are based on red herrings, special pleading, begging the question, the denigrating science, and an ignorance that I can only attribute to delusional blindness.

To read more on the OTF click here.

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• johnwloftus 06/21/2011 11:28 AM

  Believers will typically respond that Christianity is growing around the world and that is true. The question is whether or not it is doing so based on the same standards they use to reject other religions. Is reason and science rather than faith their guide? Are people accepting a religious faith by initially assuming that it has the burden of proof? Are these potential converts assuming a human rather than a divine author of your holy book(s)?
  
  I think not, not by a long shot, not even close. A religion can grow due to many other factors unrelated to how it should be reasonably accepted, if one can be reasonably accepted at all. It's growing because of a double standard.
  
  Phillip Jenkins argues that the reason why Christianity is growing in other cultures is precisely because they share the same superstitious outlook as the Bible, and it's creating new kinds of Christianities:
  
  http://www.amazon.com/New-Face...