Goodbye to Godless in Dixie

A couple of years ago, after getting into it with Tim O'Neill, I deblogrolled his History for Atheists. Beyond his insistence that I HAD TO listen to his podcast, a repeated insistence, I realized that, in the vein of Samuel Huntington's cultural Christianism, he practices some type of cultural Catholicism, especially in defending the papacy against antisemitism and other issues.

I also realized I was FAR from alone in recognizing this. And, the issue popped up on social media as well.

So, now, to Neil Carter, proprietor of Godless in Dixie.

He's another of the "deconverted gurus," like Ryan Bell.

He's run Godless in Dixie for several years and gotten a large following.

First? Before you go there? While not wanting to be a deconversion guru myself, do I admit to a bit of sour grapes over the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or whatever? Hellz yes, both on the fame itself and any money he makes that I don't. I'm kind of a post-capitalist, but not totally so.

Anyway, to the story.

He's not on my blogroll, but he's officially not worth my time at all.

About two years ago, he blocked me from commenting. Patheos uses Disqus, and I normally log into it via Twitter. So, a "why" would have been nice. (That said, I got blocked by MLB Trade Rumors years ago on that same account. Can't figure why.)

OK, I started following on Twitter a regular commenter on Shem the Penman's blog. That itself was a mistake, as I found out on another Patheos blog. So, I unfollowed him, but I still get Disqus notices regarding his comments anyway.

So, he was commenting on one of Neil's sites, and it involved something about New Testament interpretation and other things. Less than 24 hours later? Blocked again.

This time I know why. I called a lying Jesus mythicist a liar and was banned a couple of hours later. That violates either Rule 1 or Rule 2.

So, on Twitter, I told Carter to go fuck himself, gave him a small amount of time in daylight hours to comment back, and with no response, blocked him there.

As far as the gurudom? Well, I haven't started Facebook pages for any of my blogs because Facebook. My anonymity level is fairly thin, but it is there. And, I've done fake videos on my main blog, but no real ones or podcasts.

That said, in his commenting rules, Carter let the cat out of the bag. Other people do (most of? all of?) comment moderation. He surely has help with podcast recording, Facebook management, etc.

Anyway, back to the main point.

If I can't call a liar a liar, you've got a pretty weak site there. It's just like I said when leaving Quora — if you're going to let liars tell lies (Quora's bad on the alt-right, especially neo-Confederates) but you won't let me call them liars, you lost me.

And, if you're trying to protect mythicists, even though you claim you're not one, you've got less than critical thinking skills on this subject. (I "abused" other people as well as that particular mythicist.)

That said, as far as abuse? This, to me:

That said, said person is also a gun nut.

That said, while saying he's not a mythicist, Carter shows he's not a New Testament scholar, either. No, Paul in 1 Corinthians is not passing on traditions he received about the Eucharist from Jerusalem disciples. Rather, he's claiming a direct revelation from God for something he's inventing out of semi-whole cloth/stealing from mystery religions and dolloping with some Judaism on top. (As we don't know FROM PAUL when Jesus was killed, he can't be proven to be using a Passover seder as that dollop, either.)

Also, as multiple commenters have noted, the existence of Gospel fragments as early as 150CE may prove that something that became Christianity existed, contra a subset of mythicists who claim Constantine invented Christianity (yes, those nutters still exist), but that isn't proof for Jesus' existence.

I'm not a mythicist myself, but ... this is poor reasoning.

So, while Neil Carter won't be on my blogroll, he won't even be watched.

The first block, on my previous main Twitter account? I didn't notice that right away because it was the last time I visited that particular post.

A second reason he won't be watched is because he's on Patheos. And its corporate concern-trolling on comment moderation is simply ridiculous. I will occasionally visit Friendly Atheist, and a blog or two I follow there. Hemant Mehta generally knows his stuff, including on First Amendment law. Otherwise? Forget it.

And, Neil, if you and the guru team don't like it? My house, my rules, to quote your rules.

==

Ditto for a much more recently deconverted guru, Ryan Bell. I was asked to like his Facebook page and passed. I didn't get any AP stories written about me; you've got more than enough publicity already.

Do I wish I had enough publicity to comfortably come out of the shadows into a new line of work and other things? Yes. But I don't.

Ditto for many others who have chosen to make the leap of unfaith without wanting to be gurus, or even being able to enter gurudom if we did.

Carter, Bell and others could learn more about luck, starting with reading or re-reading "Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven."