Pat Robertson Would Be Gone Tomorrow If Christians Would Just...

[beam me up scottie]

77. Fun with logical fallacies.

WOW, so just self-identifying as something automatically makes you that thing that you say you are?
Hmm, there is no litmus test that one has to pass before they really are what they say they are?

Never said that; see straw man.

Great, so if I start self-identifying myself as a doctor and call myself a doctor, everyone will take me at my word that I am a doctor and I will be allowed to practice medicine?

Nope, you need to have a license to practice medicine; see false analogy

If I start identifying myself as an atheist and go out and commit horrible acts, then you will associate my horrible acts with the fact that I don't believe in religion?

All I will assume is that you don't believe in any gods; see association

See, just because some says they are something, just because some people accept they are something, does not automatically make the person representative of an entire religion or profession.

Never said that; so back to straw man.

Take Islam for an example.
The self-described extremist Muslims kill innocents because they believe that their religion permits it..
Then self-described moderate Muslims won't even accept that the extremists are real Muslims because they believe that Islam outlaws killing innocents.

So the question becomes which one of these groups is really adhering to Islam so that we can attribute their actions to the religion they follow? Is it the extremists that argue that killing is allowed, or is it the moderates that argue that killiing is not allowed?

Answer: both of them because it's not up to ME to decide which one is the Real Muslim™. They both believe their interpretation of their religious scripture is the correct one. See No True Scotsman:

With respect to religion, the fallacy is well used, often even overused. Religious apologists will repeatedly try to use the No True Scotsman argument to distance themselves from more extreme or fundamentalist groups, but this does not prevent such extremists actually being religious - they themselves would certainly argue otherwise. Moderate Muslim leaders, for example, are well known for declaring Islamic extremists as "not true Muslims" as Islam is a "religion of peace." Similarly, moderate Christians, such as those in Europe, are sometimes aghast when viewing their fundamentalist counterparts in the US, immediately declaring them "not true Christians," even though they believe in the same God and get their belief system from the same book. Many of these statements stating that the extremists are not true believers are often used as a reaction against Guilt by Association. The No True Scotsman fallacy can also run the other way when it comes to extremism. Extremists will make a religious statement and when someone points out that there are many believers who don't believe the extremist's viewpoint, the moderates are deemed to be not true believers (ie: Christians who support gay marriage are not "real Christians" or Muslims who support women's rights are not "real Muslims&quot . Modern pagans do it all the time, perhaps even more than other religions, due to the fact that there is no agreed-on orthodoxy for the whole group, with some well-established practices in one setting being considered unpalatable in others. Silver Ravenwolf, one of the best selling "leaders" of neopagans, has done this with multiple ancient, well-established practices.

It's a tricky business, as being a member of a religious group, to the minds of those involved, encompasses adhering to a certain standard of behavior. For example, charity can certainly be called an essentially Christian ethic, considering the emphasis that Jesus placed on it. The man himself would most definitely disavow the greedy and "What's mine is mine" mindset of many right-wingers who call themselves Christians. However, strictly speaking, a Christian is defined as "one who professes belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ"; there's no rule saying they have to do it right.