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tagappeal to authority

Christians, Don’t Question Authority

Nathan Jacobson, A Critical Review of QAnon, Chaos, and the Cross, edited by Michael W. Austin and Gregory L. Bock
Go In the face of a huge loss of faith in our leaders, Michael W. Austin and Gregory L. Bock recruited a couple dozen evangelical professors to exhort naysayers in the pews to steer clear of "conspiracy theories" and dissenting opinions. Apart from a lot of generic epistemological and conversational advice, QAnon, Chaos, and the Cross manages to learn and teach the wrong lesson from the early twenties. Captive to a technocratic and partisan bent, the book fails to wonder why there has been such a loss of faith in authority. Worse, on the whole, the book discourages average Christians from “doing their own research” and questioning government sanctioned experts.

Bertrand Russell’s Liberal Decalogue

From an essay by Bertrand Russell in the New York Times Magazine (1951).
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Perhaps the essence of the Liberal outlook could be summed up in a new decalogue, not intended to replace the old one but only to supplement it. The Ten Commandments that, as a teacher, I should wish to promulgate, might be set forth as follows:

  1. Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.
  2. Do not think it worthwhile to produce belief by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.
  3. Never try to discourage thinking, for you are sure to succeed.
  4. When you meet with opposition, even if it is from your family, endeavor to overcome it with argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.
  5. Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.
  6. Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do, the opinions will suppress you.
  7. Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
  8. Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.
  9. Be scrupulously truthful even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.
  10. Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool’s paradise, for only a fool will think that is happiness.