Sacerdotus - "Come now, let us reason together." Isaiah 1:18
Showing posts with label Twitter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Twitter. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 10, 2023

@GodsNotReal_ & the Omniscience Fallacy

It has been a while since we have encountered tweets spouting sophism attempting to refute God, particularly God's attribute of omniscience.  As usual, a "meme graphic" is used rather than a peer review article.  The meme is full of conjecture that completely misrepresents God and other fields of academia.  They are not thought out well nor vetted against logic and academia.   

The graphic reads, "Omniscience Paradox."  It then goes on positing various scenarios bent on showing that God cannot be omniscient because of "x" factor.  The graphic is devoid of the knowledge of philosophy, time, theology, and physics, particularly quantum and relativity.  We will show this in a way that is understandable to all who can read.  Let us begin to analyze this graphic and tweet here below.  

 




It begins with "Assume God exists" and then directs to a diamond shape with the words "Does God know what all of my future thoughts will be?"  From there it offers a "yes" and "no" option indicating the outcome for each.  If "yes," then the graphic posits that "All human thoughts and actions have been pre-determined." If "No," then the graphic posits that "God is not all-knowing."  The graphic continues in this manner.  At first glance, it seems to make sense. However, a trained philosopher and logician can see the fallacy of assumption, appeal to ignorance, and special pleading fallacies here.  

This graphic would make sense if God were pantheistic, that is to say, a part of nature or the universe. The premise of this graphic is linked to this because it assumes that God and nature operate on the same rules and are linked via space-time.  This is important to note because it shows the strawman behind the graphic. It is possible for an All-Knowing entity to exist while at the same time allowing free will. It is possible for one to make any decision freely and at the same time God having awareness of it. This is exactly why God IS God.  Only a being of this magnitude transcends time and space in a manner that we cannot comprehend.  


What the graphic and tweet author fails to understand is that God is not bound by the laws of physics.  God is outside of space, time, and matter.  Our perception is limited within our existence dictated by the laws of physics.  Think of it like a video game.  We all know about Super Mario Bros.  There is even a movie out that has been number 1 for almost a month.  It was very good, I might add!  I digress.  It is a famous franchise about two Italian plumbers from Brooklyn, New York who are in a parallel universe called "The Mushroom Kingdom."  The two plumbers, Mario and Luigi are human.  As humans, we know that we can die easily.  We are subject to our regulated existence in this universe.  However, when Mario and Luigi are in this parallel universe, they have an extended amount of lives.  They also obtain special powers via particular items in the game.  Both Mario and Luigi can exist in this parallel universe because they are subject to the rules and laws of it.  Similarly, we are subject to the rules and laws of physics in this universe which has God as the author.  We can live and exist to a certain extent.  God is not bound by this.  The author of this graphic and tweet and others throughout the centuries make this mistake quite often in assuming God is bound by this universe or any other factors.  They apply the laws of physics to an entity that is not bound to them.  So, while we may perceive time as a constant moment that may give the appearance of "moving" into what we call the "future," God does not. God is not a contingent being, to use philosophical jargon. We are contingent beings. We need nature to exist. We need the laws of physics to exist. We need food, water, and regulated temperatures to exist. We need social interaction, love, emotions, etc. to exist.  You get the idea.  God does not need this, anyone, or anything. God is also immutable.  

The graphic and tweet author is thinking in a linear sense.  It is clear they never studied philosophy or physics.  Let me explain using Physics and Philosophy:

Free will exists while God knows and sees all at the same time because we are subject to space and time, not God. What does this mean? It means that God can know every outcome and every decision we make because He is outside of space and time. Being that He is God, His perception will be extremely advanced and different that ours who are bound by the physics of this universe.

We are in space and time, they have an effect on us. We exist in 4 dimensions and are limited to them. We cannot perceive the others. Because of this limitation, we are only aware of those 4 dimensions. M-theory or String theory is interesting when comparing it with free will and an all-knowing God.

To sum it up, string theory is the idea that particles are strings existing within and interacting with different dimensions. For example, string theory posits that what I am doing now is just one of the many outcomes within "reality." In this dimension I am blogging, in another, I could be blogging but chewing gum, etc., etc. All of this can happen at the same time or at different times.  We see this concept being presented more and more in movies such as the popular Marvel and DC movies with the "multiverse."  The latest movie of Dr. Strange touches on this idea greatly. Another movie from the "Men in Black" franchise presents an extraterrestrial named Griffin that can see multiple outcomes. His ability does not remove free will from Will Smith's character or anyone else's and vice-versa.  


In light of this, God who is outside of space and time can observe the many variations in the "strings" of reality. Therefore, He can see all/know all, and we can still be free in our respective dimension because we are part of that dimension and are subject to its laws.

You can test this with something that refracts light and a flashlight. When you put the beam on it, the light will "split" into parts pointing at different points. It is the same light, but they are at different points in space and time and in different dimensions. You can observe this because you are outside of that light, but if the light were conscious, it would not be aware of this and would only be aware that it can exist in its respective point.

Moreover, Determinism is not taken seriously by most philosophers, even less by physicists.  Here is a piece from philosopher Huemer:

A related idea is that the practice of reasoning is implicitly governed by the rule that one ought to form only justified (rational) beliefs and avoid unjustified beliefs; if one in no way accepts this norm - for example, if one regards arbitrary beliefs as no less to be preferred than rational beliefs- then one is not engaged in genuine reasoning. If this is right, then the determinist, insofar as he attempts to rationally defend his position, must accept at least some normative principles governing his assertions and thoughts. These normative principles may prove difficult to reconcile with determinism (indeed, the acceptance of any normative principles at all may be irreconcilable with determinism). The following deduction shows one way of bringing out the problem:

1. We should refrain from accepting unjustified beliefs. (Premise; presupposition of reasoning.)

2. To say that one should do something implies that one can do it. (premise)

3. So we can refrain from accepting unjustified beliefs. (From 1, 2)

4. Assume that hard determinism is true. Then what we actually do is the only thing we can do - that is, what can be done is done. (Assumption, definition of hard determinism.)

5. Therefore, we have no unjustified beliefs. (From 3,4)

6. Many people believe in free will. (Premise.)

7. So the belief in free will justified. (From 5,6) 


As for physics, subatomic particles behave in a random manner as we have learned via quantum physics using particle accelerators.  There is nothing "set" in the universe at this level of existence.  As stated above, string theory proposes that there are multiple scenarios of time being played out as I write this and as you read it.

In conclusion, this graphic only works with a "deist or pantheist type of God," but not the one God that has revealed Himself to us. The one who created this graphic and the tweet author obviously does not understand "God."  This fallacious logic is only applicable to a god from folk religions in Africa such as "Nyame."  In African folk religions, God or gods are part of the universe, not outside of it.

So God can be omniscient while at the same time not affecting the free will of beings in this universe. Logic and modern physics point to this.  


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Wednesday, January 25, 2023

Frank Pavone Blocks Sacerdotus

A Controversial Priest Silences a fellow Catholic on Social Media

In a recent episode of online censorship, Father Frank Pavone, the national director of Priests for Life, has blocked a fellow Catholic blogger who goes by the name of Sacerdotus on Twitter. The reason for this blockage seems to be that Sacerdotus had mentioned Pavone's account in a tweet with an article by The Pillar detailing the allegations of sexual misconduct that have been made against Pavone by several former employees and associates of his pro-life organization.

Sacerdotus, who describes himself as a "Catholic philosopher, theologian, scientist, and blogger", had tweeted a link to an article by the National Catholic Reporter that detailed the accusations against Pavone, along with the comment: "Interesting read. I wonder how @frfrankpavone will respond to this." Pavone apparently did not appreciate this reference to the scandal that has been plaguing him for years, and decided to block Sacerdotus from viewing or interacting with his tweets.

This is not the first time that Pavone has resorted to blocking critics or dissenters on social media. He has also blocked several prominent Catholic journalists, theologians, and activists who have questioned his methods, motives, or theology. Some of these include Michael Sean Winters, Mark Shea, Simcha Fisher, and John Gehring. Pavone has also been known to lash out at those who challenge him, calling them names such as "idiots", "morons", and "demonic".

Pavone's behavior on social media raises serious questions about his credibility and integrity as a leader of a Catholic pro-life movement. How can he claim to be a defender of human dignity and life when he treats his fellow Catholics with such disrespect and contempt? How can he expect to persuade others to join his cause when he silences and insults those who disagree with him? How can he preach the Gospel of Life when he ignores or denies the allegations of sexual abuse that have been made against him?

Pavone's actions also reveal a lack of accountability and transparency in his organization. Priests for Life has been under investigation by several dioceses and the Vatican for financial irregularities and mismanagement. Pavone has refused to cooperate with these investigations, claiming that he is not subject to any ecclesiastical authority. He has also refused to disclose how much money he raises and spends, or how he uses it for his personal or professional expenses. He has been accused of using donations for lavish travel, luxury cars, and political campaigns.

Pavone's blocking of Sacerdotus on Twitter is a symptom of a deeper problem: his unwillingness to face the truth and to repent of his sins. He has shown no signs of remorse or repentance for the harm he has caused to the Church, the pro-life movement, and the victims of his alleged abuse. He has shown no signs of humility or obedience to the Church's teachings and laws. He has shown no signs of charity or compassion to his brothers and sisters in Christ.

Pavone's blocking of Sacerdotus on Twitter is also a warning to all Catholics who care about the sanctity of life and the integrity of the Church: beware of false prophets who come in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves (Matthew 7:15). Do not follow them blindly or uncritically. Do not let them deceive you with their rhetoric or charisma. Do not let them silence you with their threats or intimidation. Do not let them divide you with their polarization or extremism.

Instead, follow the example of Sacerdotus and other courageous Catholics who speak the truth in love, who expose the darkness with light, who confront the evil with good. Follow the example of Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). Follow the example of Mary, who is the mother of life and the queen of peace. Follow the example of Francis, who is the pope of mercy and the shepherd of souls.

And pray for Pavone and all those who have been hurt by him. Pray that they may find healing and justice. Pray that they may find forgiveness and reconciliation. Pray that they may find hope and joy.


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Thursday, April 22, 2021

Bill 'Rosa' HounSLOW Gets Destroyed On Twitter for Science Illiteracy

After being banned from Twitter while using the account @rosarubicondior for abuse and copyright infringement, Billy Hounslow who uses the stolen alter-ego "Rosa Rubicondior" and pretends to be an atheist is at it again using a new account.  No, this time he is not fixated on me or a Latino high schoolboy. Rather, he is up to his usual ignorant commentary devoid of facts.  Nothing surprises me anymore from this elderly man who is allegedly retired from a health management position and spends his time blogging, tweeting, and writing fictional novels which have dismal reviews.  

Many of you remember "Rosa" from years ago. I challenged him to an honest intellectual debate which he accepted at first and later avoided and ran from.  All of it is documented here: Sacerdotus: Rosa Rubicondior

"Rosa" is one of the most dishonest, disingenuous, and uneducated troll accounts one will ever face on social media.  He will make all kinds of silly claims and rely on himself as an authority. He will defend those claims to the point of getting contentious and abusive. When he gets corrected or embarrassed with facts, he resorts to immature name-calling, slander, libel, and doxing.  This is of course if he did not block you just for contradicting him.  He claims to be an atheist but his content makes atheists look bad. Real atheists have a better grasp of science and philosophy than this elderly bitter and contentious dotard British man who uses his wit and keyboard as a battle arsenal. 

Fear not. He is no threat to anyone but himself and any children who may be near him. As stated before, he has some fixation or fetish with Latino teen boys from high school based on his writings.  He has no intellectual skills and relies on sophism and banal atheistic arguments long destroyed by theologians, philosophers, and scientists. This form of engagement on his part leads to failure and gaffes constantly.  Well, recently, he added to his list of failures and gaffes.  

On April 20, 2021, he posted a tweet that got him roasted and destroyed by Catholics, Protestants, and even other Atheists!  He like many of us celebrated the achievement of NASA flying a small drone on Mars for a few seconds.  While this may not be much of an achievement in the short run, it is in the long run as it tells us more about Mars and how to operate machines capable of aviation.  The problem with Hounslow's (and I emphasize slow for obvious reasons) is that he made a false conflation fallacy in his tweet.  He claims that Science does things or has achievements while Religion does not.  Look at his tweet:


The tweet is hilarious and sad at the same time. It shows the academic sloth and cognitive lethargy typical of "Rosa." Sometimes I feel he may be a Protestant Christian pretending to be an atheist in order to defame atheists or harm atheism.  No serious atheist would tweet such nonsense devoid of historical facts.  If you were offended by the ignorance of this tweet, you were not the only one.  Here are some of the many "burns" Billy got from others who called out his nonsense:



As you can see, Billy got destroy with facts from all sides of life.  His nonsensical tweet was destroyed and with speed.  These kinds of comments cannot exist on social media.  Today we have a problem with false information or "fake news" as the former president coined.  This false information is believed by many, unfortunately.  To make the claim or even suggest that religion and science are entities that exist contrary to each other or apart from each other is absurd. It is even more absurd to claim that religion fostered nothing good and that science somehow defeats it in this endeavor when science comes from religion; the Catholic religion to be exact!  Some atheists may claim that science existed before and may name philosophers from Greece.  The problem with this assertion is that what the Greeks practiced was not science per se. They did try to figure things out in nature. However, they did so using tenacity. Tenacity in science is a primitive form of the scientific method, so to speak. Basically, it is the reliance on previous ideas, theories, or beliefs and building upon them without ever questioning them or testing them. Tenacity is well displayed in the episode of Star Trek the Next Generation entitled Thine Own Self.  



In this episode, Lieutenant commander Data who is an artificial lifeform or android is sent to the planet Barkon IV.  Due to the Prime Directive, or a law that prevents advanced civilizations from interfering with or revealing themselves to less advanced ones. This law exists to allow a less advanced civilization to naturally evolve. Anyhow, Data is on this planet which is set in a time similar to that of the pre-industrial world on Earth. The people dress and behave like those in the Renaissance period on Earth.  Data is there to recover radioactive contents from a probe that crashed on the planet. While doing so, he is damaged and suffers memory loss. Data wanders around with the radioactive contents until he enters a village.  The people believe he is some snow creature from the mountains and is afraid at first. Eventually, they trust him.  One village then sells the radioactive contents which the people use as jewelry.  Without them knowing, the contents are slowly killing them as one would expect something radioactive to do.  They get sick and believe Data cursed them with some magic. Talur, a female polymath who works as a scientist, teacher, and doctor begins to study the situation. She studies Data and the radioactive contents. However, the method she uses to study is tenacity. She relies on previous knowledge to come to conclusions. Data slowly begins to regain his memory and with that his more advanced science skills and begins to find a cure for the people who are suffering from radioactive poisoning. Talur begins to realize that her methods do not work and are primitive. Data uses the scientific method we use now which comes from Franciscan Friar Roger Bacon.  

That being stated, when atheists claim that the Greeks already had science, they are not factual. The "science" they had was tenacity based on philosophy and some empiricism. Other civilizations had and used the same method. It was Tenacity that brought Galileo into problems. When he challenged the ideas universities held, this caused friction because they followed tenacity as their method. Tenacity eventually paved the way to the scientific method we all use today. By this, I mean that scientists still use previous works of science to build new ideas on and to challenge those previous works. This is science.  Science builds upon what was there already or completely challenges, revises, or throws it out based on evidence and the facts that fit the evidence.  So that being stated, science, as we know it today, comes from the Catholic Church.  Friar Bacon formulated the method we use today which has brought about many discoveries and ideas. The Catholic Church funded science and scientists. In fact, many of her clergy and religious members worked in science. The Catholic Church runs the oldest observatory in the world!  A priest named George Lemaitre formulated Cosmic Inflation or the "Big Bang Theory" (not the comedy show)! Without these, atheist physicists like Sean Carroll, Stephen Hawking, or Lawrence Krauss would not have anything to work within their work today.  

Moreover, most of the craters on the moon and other planets are named after priests and other Catholic religious!  To claim that religion and science are enemies or that science somehow is doing more than religion is just ludicrous and shows a lack of knowledge on whoever makes such claims.  Theology along with philosophy brought about the formation of science with its inquiry methods and audacity to question the questions and seek beyond what the 5 senses show us.  

I wrote books on atheism and how science refutes it. In them, I provide information on the history of science and its Catholic roots. You can purchase them here:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/atheism-is-stupid-sacerdotus/1123159474

https://www.amazon.com/Answering-Atheists-Theists-Hurry-Sacerdotus/dp/1792985495/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1619598846&sr=8-5


For informaon on Friar Roger Bacon, OFM:

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/roger-bacon/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Roger-Bacon

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3705416/

https://www.rogerbaconacademy.net/leadership/who-is-roger-bacon/

https://iep.utm.edu/bacon-ro/

https://www.timelineindex.com/content/view/1435

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/renaissance-reformation/baroque-art1/beginners-guide-baroque1/a/francis-bacon-and-the-scientific-revolution

https://medium.com/st-ambrose-press/fr-roger-bacon-a-franciscan-and-the-forefather-of-the-scientific-method-22a90794226e


Catholic Scientists and Contributions to Science:

https://www.catholicscientists.org/

https://catholic-link.org/16-catholic-scientists-who-have-made-amazing-contributions-to-science/

https://aleteia.org/2018/05/25/these-5-catholic-scientists-shaped-our-understanding-of-the-world/

https://www.shu.edu/mission-ministry/society-of-catholic-scientists.cfm

https://stfrancis.clas.asu.edu/article/roman-catholic-scientists


For Info on Tenacity:

https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/57731_Chapter_1.pdf

http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/4856/1/Peircef%5B1%5D.pdf


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Monday, October 21, 2019

@TaylorRMarshall is Back on Twitter



As of about 15 to 17 minutes ago, Taylor Marshall's Twitter account became active tweeting prayers in Latin.  As I expected, it seems like he simply purged his account and was never suspended.  Last week, Taylor's account looked as if it was suspended see: https://www.sacerdotus.com/2019/10/twitter-suspendsbans-conspiracist.html.  Many of his followers thought he was the victim of Twitter's gulag. 

   I will update this post as I learn more.










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Friday, October 18, 2019

Twitter Suspends/Bans Conspiracist Taylor Marshall

I was just made aware by my friend, British Deacon Nick that Catholic conspiracist, Dr. Taylor R. Marshall @TaylorRMarshall (https://twitter.com/TaylorRMarshall) was suspended or possibly permanently banned by Twitter. His Twitter account is not showing his tweets or retweets.

This is odd. While this is usually the pattern of a suspended account, the message "this account is suspended" does not pop up on the PC or app which makes the scenario odd. However, Twitter has been making changes to its system lately in order to block certain tweets deemed offensive from showing up in certain regions. Dr. Marshall's account may have fallen victim to this process.




While many of his tweets are questionable in regards to racism, xenophobia and homophobia in light of Twitter's censorship, we cannot rule out any glitch on the part of Twitter's new algorithms. This may explain why we are not seeing the pop up stating that the account was in fact suspended. However, sometimes when an account is suspended, the first phase is to show it as still active without tweets. As time passes, the message of it being suspended begins to pop up and then the followers disappear.  We shall see as the days pass to see if this happens.  He may have been reported for hate, though it looks more like he purged all of his tweets leaving his account blank with only his followers and bio information. 


 Here are some reactions from Catholics on Twitter:



















I will update this post as soon as I confirmed what exactly happened to Dr. Marshall's Twitter account. He has me blocked on both his Twitter and Instagram (@DrTaylorRMarshall) due to my criticism of his racist comments on the pope's Leopard vestments during his Africa visit (see: http://www.sacerdotus.com/2019/09/conspiracist-taylor-marshall-blocks.html ), but has no mention of the issue on his Instagram account or website.


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Thursday, September 19, 2019

Conspiracist Taylor Marshall Blocks Sacerdotus

As I have written before, when Pope Francis was elected, this stirred a lot of people in the Catholic Church. The "schism" really began on March 13, 2013. We are seeing it more open today, especially on social media. Catholics are fighting one another. I shared how many Catholics followed me, jumped into my mini-debates against atheists and protestants, and were friendly. That changed with many unfollowing me, blocking me or aligning themselves with party lines, so to speak.

Before on social media, there were Catholics who were more orthodox than others, and then there were the sedevacantists and the really absurd Catholics who deny almost everything the Church teaches. I faced them all. From NovusOrdoWatch and his sheep who deny the papacy and have a huge misconception of what Catholicism teaches, to the liberal ones who claim the Bible supports abortion, contraception and same-sex marriage. Despite these, there were always mainstream Catholics who alway balanced things out. Now, nearly all of those followers are competing against each other as to who is more Catholic than the next.

Taylor R. Marshall is one such character who went bonkers, along with Rorate Caeli and a few others. I used to follow Marshall back in 2015 and enjoyed his appreciation of the Liturgy from pre-Vatican II. However, his tweets started to become more nonsensical and contentious. He began to attack the Ordinary Form of the Mass, made implicit jabs at Pope Francis and started to show a scrupulous side that one would expect from the Pharisees. Having a doctoral degree, I expected him to be more rational and balanced, but he has demonstrated a tendency to rely on heuristic representativeness, conjecture, bias and conspiracy to push a narrative.

I am not sure when, but he blocked me on Twitter. It seems he blocked me because I questioned his comments and corrected his misinformation. I state this because I never was rude to him. My tweets are evidence of this. I will show them here:

In this tweet, I asked him for a review copy of his book so as to review it on my media


In this tweet, I comment on how I tried to get the nuncio to invite my nephew to meet the pope during his visit to New York, and the nuncio gave me the runaround:



These are the times I questioned him and offered a correction to his misstatements and misinformation:
































As you can see, my criticisms involved his misconceptions and bad takes on certain events or actions, particularly, involving the pope. They were never ill-willed or meant to make him look bad. I was doing my Christian duty of correcting a brother in error or offering him a different perspective than the negative and accusatory one he adopted. If this is what led him to block me, then he is clearly insecure with his intelligence and cannot handle criticism.

Had I come across as rude and vulgar, then I would understand the need to block me. However, I did no such things. This tells me what many others have stated about Marshall: that he is an opportunist profiting off the gullible. Opportunists do not like to be challenged. They are authoritarians who see themselves equal to no one and untouchable. I am concerned for Taylor and his large following. They are not well educated in the Catholic faith, history of the Church or her Liturgical rubrics. This is evident in the exchanges I have read online and on his personal website. Taylor caters to a group of alleged Catholics who call themselves "traditionalists," but are really ignorant of tradition, both with capital and lower-case T.

These are the type that believes the only valid Liturgy is the Extraordinary Form, want to oppress females to the pews wearing veils, oppress young girls from the altar, profess false ideas on how to receive Holy Communion, rely heavily on private revelations, and who deems everything they disagree with as "modernism." Another thing this type of Catholic does is nitpick externals. If a vestment or clerical attire is not to his or her liking, then the cleric if a "modernist," liberal or heretic. The scrupulous nature found in these types of alleged Catholics is disturbing. Taylor himself is guilty of this.

Here is a recent example of one of those scrupulous tweets that are worthy of the Pharisees:



In this tweet, he is mocking the use of different colored clerical collar shirts. Like seriously, Taylor? The Catholic Church has no official rubric that states what a cleric has to wear other than the cassock with the appropriate piping color and sash. Then there are religious orders and institutes which use their own variations of habits and clerical collar shirts or even cassocks. What difference does it make the color of the shirt a priest or deacon uses? Taylor's comment here to just wear a cassock is offensive to religious orders. Does that mean the brown and gray Franciscan habit or black and white robes of the Dominican invalid because it is not a cassock? This is what I mean when I say that Taylor has gone bonkers. He has gone off the rails, so to speak.

I will not go into his book which reads more like a fictitious novel with a conspiracy plot. It is like reading the Da Vinci Code or watching the movie Angels & Demons. The book would not pass vetting from scholars and academics. It is a veiled attack against Pope Francis that insinuates that the pontiff was seated in Rome due to the influence of cults within the Church, such as the Free Masons. If Marshall really believes what he wrote, that is scary. I worry about his psychological health along with his spiritual health.

Conspiracy theories are not new in the Church or secular world. There are many people who create them and believe them. Today, we hear of Trump being an accomplice with Russia, Hillary Clinton as a hitman of sorts, the Pizzagate scenario, Queen Elizabeth being a reptilian alien, Area 51 having captured aliens, Pope Francis is a Communist, I can go on and on, but we get the point. New ones pop up almost daily, especially on social media. Why are humans fascinated with conspiracy theories?

Well, psychologists have many theories. Human beings need to find a causal explanation for events in order to have a clear understanding of the world (Heider, 1958). This need to stabilize and formalize a causal explanation often leads to a rushed conclusion. In psychology, this is called Heuristic Representativeness. This is when the human brain pieces together pieces of information and comes up with a conclusion without process it logically. Conspiracy theories are formed by this processing. These theories posit, to varying degrees, that with certain actors, events hidden from the public perception that seems to be coincidental or link to one another offer a specific conclusion that proves a set narrative; the conclusion is then closed off from falsification (Lewandowsky et al., 2015). In fact, those who try to debunk the conspiracy theory becomes part of the conspiracy. Any attempt to debunk said conspiracy theory is met with aggressive responses and intense rejection (Goertzel, 1994). These conspiracy theories offer a safety blanket for the confirmation bias a person holds (Bost & Prunier, 2013). Any counter to them will force the brain of the person holding to the conspiracy theory to become defensive. This is why we see Taylor and his sheep become very defensive when their narratives and theories are questioned or debunked. It is the equivalent of offending someone's mother. The one whose mom is being attacked will not sit idle to it.

Those who foster conspiracies have a borderline personality disorder. They exhibit signs of Paranoid Ideation (Cichocka, Marchlewska, & Golec de Zavala, 2016). Narcissism is also a part of those who foster conspiracy theories. They feel superiors to others with the belief that only they possess the truth (Cichocka, Marchlewska, Golec de Zavala, & Olechowski, 2016). This is what we find in the works of Taylor and his followers. They exhibit paranoid (The Catholic Church is being infiltrated) and narcissism (only "traditional" Catholics are Catholic). This is why the Pope has been concerned with those Catholics who are "rigid." By "rigid," he does not mean Catholics who follow the Church's teachings and live the faith in an orthodox way. He means those who believe their form of Catholicism or how they understand it, is the correct one and refuse to adopt reality and the viewpoints of another(Stewin, Len (September 1983).

Dr. Coplan categorizes it in this manner: People who are cognitively rigid externalize and internalize certain behaviors. They externalize:


  • Insistently repetitious behavior, 
  • Difficulty with unmet expectations, 
  • Perfectionism, 
  • Compulsions, 
  • Preservation, 
  • Agitation, 
  • Aggression, 
  • SIB (Self-Injurious Behavior). 


They internalize:

  • Perfectionism, 
  • Obsessions, 
  • Anxiety, 
  • Depression and Suicidality. 


Individuals who are cognitively rigid adhere to a Mental Set. This is a paradigm of previous experiences that are ordered in such a way that it becomes a schema. Anything that counters or is different from this mental set is rejected. Doing so will cause the individual to learn new things and explore new environments. This is not easy to do for some people. It is like building a house the way you like it, living it in for years only to disassemble it and rebuild it in another way. Most are not willing to do this in real life with a house, imagine with their minds.

So those Catholics who are stuck in the past and only think the pre-Vatican II way is the only way, those who are cognitively rigid. These are the ones the pope has shown concern for as a pastor. He probably speaks about this because he knows well as a Jesuit how dangerous the rigid can be. Those who are cognitively rigid hide inner conflicts and personality disorders. If not treated, they can even lead to severe depression, antisocial behavior, and suicide. When I studied in Toronto, I lived in a parish that was "traditional-minded" in the sense of appreciating the pre-Vatican II Liturgy. The pastor of the parish was a Franciscan who was very critical of everyone. I felt very uncomfortable around him. He would tell me that priests who wore short-sleeved clerical collar shirts were heretics and was caught up on attire. When I went home for the holidays in New York, he called me, not to see if I got home safe, but to criticize my travel clothing. I wore jeans, a sweater, a winter coat, and a Yankees cap. This priest found an issue with this! I was dismayed and realized how sick some Catholic priests can be, psychologically speaking. One morning during breakfast, the priest said he would not open the door to black people. I questioned him as to why, and he said that a black man robbed him while he was depositing the collection and that he is more careful around black people. I was disgusted at his comment. This priest was a "traditionalist" and the rigid type the pope has spoken about numerous times. This is not an insult, but a description of abnormal psychology that some Catholics have adopted.

Taylor and his followers exhibit the same rigid and paranoid tones which all Catholic should be worried about. They are signs of an underlying personality disorder which and blow up into something more dangerous. Conspiracy theories are not something we should take lightly. They are dangerous and are often what create cults. The fact that many Catholics choose to follow Marshall over the pope and the Catholic Church's teachings are disturbing. Taylor is entitled to his opinion, but not his own facts. He has made many gaffes on Twitter which have been caught by others who are knowledgeable. One such gaffe is his comment that the priest is somehow superior to the laity. This is not Catholic teaching! He eventually deleted the tweet. Another tweet is when he posted a photo of someone receiving Communion at an altar rail with the caption "this is how it is done." Again, this is not official Catholic teaching. While people can receive on the tongue while kneeling, this does not mean it is the only way or only correct way. This misconception and one which he claimed Communion in the hand was not done in the early Church led to writing my own post showing actually documentation refuting his misconceptions, see: https://www.sacerdotus.com/2019/09/holy-communion-hand-vs-tongue-discussion.html. It is scary to think that many believe his content is correct. They see "PhD" and believe he is an authority. However, his doctorate is in philosophy, not theology. His theological studies are on the master's level and are protestant in nature. Taylor was an Anglican priest who became Catholic.

That fact brings me to an interesting point. Suppose I wrote a book claiming that he infiltrated the Catholic Church and cite his former life as an Anglican priest, does that make my book factual? If you say no, then you are correct. Conspiracy theories are not factual. People can read whatever they want, but they have to be smart enough to vet it against the facts. I read a lot of things and take them as a grain of salt, so to speak. When I read them, I do extra research to verify the claims.

As Scripture says, "test the spirits (1 John 4)." Be careful with Taylor and others who present a narrative that is not what the Catholic Church teaches. As stated before, Marshall tweeted some good content in the beginning, however, he has gone awol, so speak. We need to pray for him and correct his errors with the facts, not insults or accusations. Marshall is one tweet away from becoming a schismatic. While he is not shy about his dislike of Pope Francis, I have not seen him openly state that there is no pope or that Pope Francis is not the pope. However, it is only a matter of time until he goes sedevacantist from what I have read from his own hands (tweets/writings). This indicates a psychological and spiritual crisis going on in him. We need to pray for him. He may suffer from an underlying psychological personality disorder or adjustment disorder.

Remember, Taylor Marshall is just a layman. He is not an official teacher of Catholicism. Catholics should rely on the magisterium and sacred deposit for their information, no one else. Marshall's content is his personal opinion and bias, nothing else. No Catholic should make any decisions on how he or she practices his or her faith based on what they hear or read from Taylor Marshall.



I hope the bishops do something to have more control and monitoring of alleged Catholic content found on social media. They are the teachers of the faith, not laypeople on YouTube or Twitter accounts. The bishops need to take control of the situation or they will lose the people to these lay people who post narratives in the name of the Liturgy and Catholic faith.  Are we to become petty Pharisees?  This scares aways Catholics and those interested in joining the Church as this person tweeted to me:




There is nothing wrong with loving the Liturgies from the pre-Vatican II era. I love them and love the traditional lace surplices!  I love Latin and receive Communion on the tongue and kneel when I can.  However, I do not impose my preferences upon other Catholics when the Church already decided options for them.  Being a true traditionalist is loving tradition, all of them, not just the ones from Trent until 1962.  It means accepting the fact that tradition is part of the Catholic Church and is a living organism which the pope and bishops have control and mandate over, not the laity or even priests and deacons.  As one of my Oratorian professors from the Oratory at St. Philip's Seminary in Toronto, Canada wrote in his book:

"Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism the dead faith of the living" 
      ~On the Lord's Appearing



What do you think?  Post below on Disqus.  Be sure to follow the rules on commenting.




Source:

https://taylormarshall.com

https://twitter.com/TaylorRMarshall

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0963721417718261

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/making-sense-autistic-spectrum-disorders/201608/cognitive-rigidity-the-8-ball-hell



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Tuesday, September 17, 2019

DawnofMercy 'EWTN Schism'

A battle broke out today when Catholic convert from Judaism and Protestantism, Dawn Eden Goldstein (DawnofMercy) posted a tweet claiming that there is an "EWTN schism." She posted a clip from the homily of the day where a priest from the Eternal Word Missionaries (a Franciscan third order group founded by the late Mother Angelica) spoke on the upcoming Amazon synod and the calls to prayer and fasting from Cardinal Burke and Bishop Schneider.


Goldstein claims that the homily was inappropriate and even made accusations of liturgical abuse, as well as, the creation of a disservice to EWTN viewers. The tweet caused an uproar among several alleged Catholic accounts which began questioning Dawn's intentions. To make things worse, another person posted a comment insinuating that Dawn is a Jewish infiltrator in the Catholic Church. This caused a quarrel with OnePeterFive and Steve Skojec.   



The tweet has turned Catholics against each other with ongoing threads of insults and accusations being tossed around like footballs.  What do you think?  Is Dawn correct?  Is there an EWTN schism? 

Post below on Disqus. Be sure to follow the rules for comments. 
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Friday, June 14, 2019

Fake Catholic Francis Petrucci Celebrates My Hospital Visit

Many of you know that I have been on and off of here due to medical issues. I am on sabbatical or medical leave after having my first surgery. The surgery and other health problems have caused complications recently. I was hospitalized in March, then twice in June. I then went to the hospital a few more times thereafter.

see:

https://www.sacerdotus.com/2018/11/sacerdotus-down-pray-for-me.html


https://www.sacerdotus.com/2019/06/sacerdotus-hospitalized.html
https://www.sacerdotus.com/2019/06/sacerdotus-rushed-to-bronx-hospital.html
https://www.sacerdotus.com/2019/06/sacerdotus-taken-to-hospital-by.html

Many of you have offered your prayers and well wishes. I am extremely grateful for this. However, an individual named Frank Petrucci from the past offered hate instead. I encountered this individual in 2016 on Facebook. Someone added me to the group Atheist vs Theist debates w/o ban. As usual, I refuted atheist content on there and posted my content. The owner of this group was Frank Petrucci who claimed to be a Catholic graduate from Ave Maria University. Well, instead of offering support, Petrucci attacked me which caused the alleged atheists on there to gather to enjoy the spectacle. It became clear to me based on Petrucci's poor understanding of Catholicism and his behavior that he was just another troll looking to tarnish the faith. He used vulgar language, demonstrated hate against women, minorities and homosexuals; all behavior unbecoming of a true Catholic more indicative of a frustrated closeted homosexual. See more at:

http://www.sacerdotus.com/2016/06/psychotic-pseudo-catholic-or-delusional.html

After several years, Petrucci reemerged to target me again. This time, he celebrated my hospital stay claiming it to be "justice." This deranged individual made himself my enemy for no reason. He still claims to be a Catholic, but no Catholic behaves like this unless he or she has a mental illness. Petrucci's anti-social behavior indicates there may be a mental illness present. His behavior does not align with Catholic morality. Moreover, since he made himself my enemy, he apparently never read Proverbs 24:17.

Here is the tweet I had posted telling my followers of my hospital visit. Petrucci came out of nowhere and replied.




Petrucci replied with "Yessss!!! JUSTICE SERVED." The tweet left many of my Catholic followers in dismay. What Catholic does this?



It seems that Petrucci is out to get revenge against me after I exposed his fraud on my website. His Facebook profiles are gone along with the group he founded. It seems Facebook removed them due to his hateful and abusive content. I had to ask followers to report his pages in order to protect the faith from is smearing campaign.

As you can see, Petrucci is dressed like a satanist and clearly writes in his Twitter bio that he is a "#HateAgent." I ask fellow Catholics to avoid this disturbed individual, pray for him and his conversion and report his hateful content.  Twitter already removed some of his hateful tweets and locked his account.



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Monday, April 2, 2018

Twitter Targets Sacerdotus



This morning without warning, my Sacerdotus account on Twitter was suspended.  I was surprised.  On Sunday, I tweeted links regarding Holy Week.  What did I do wrong?  Is this an April's Fools prank?  

Well according to Twitter Support, they claim that I posted hate against.  In other words, they claim that I violated their hateful conduct policy. They provided the offending tweets. Two of these tweets deal with health statistics and the last one deals with a historical statistic.  

As you can see, none of them qualify as hate.  Twitter is simply discriminating against religious accounts.  I appealed their decision and have not heard from them.  It seems I may have to contact a lawyer again to help me.  This time, I will have to file a lawsuit as Twitter is being abusive and violating my rights.  Not only are they violating my rights, but they are defaming me by accusing me of posting hate.  Again, these tweets have nothing to do with hate.  They are informative tweets based on available statistics.

UPDATE:  April 4, 2018:
Early today, I filed another appeal and got a message saying that my case was still open.  Within minutes, they finally replied to my first appeal stating that they will not reinstate my account and accused me of posting hate and attacking/threatening others with the tweets they classify as hate. 



Who works at Twitter?  Is this a computer who is answering these appeals and monitoring tweets?  If this is a human person, then this person is clearly stupid.  No intelligent person would interpret my tweets as hate.  

I filed another appeal and wrote this:



My account was falsely reported for hate by someone retaliating against me after he got suspended.  The tweets Twitter is classifying as hate is not hate.  They are tweets with health and history facts.  I can prove it.  The tweet about anilingus is not hate against gays or people with diseases. This tweet is just informing people of the dangers of the act of anilingus. I was citing this: 
https://www.menshealth.com/sex-women/a19530788/butt-motorboating-explained/ 
The tweet about Atheism and Mental health rates is citing a study (I put it in quotes "Religious affiliation and suicide attempt"), here is the link for the study:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15569904

Lastly, the tweet about Atheism and highest rates of mass murders is from these articles touching on historical sources:
http://listverse.com/2010/06/05/10-people-who-give-atheism-a-bad-name/http://www.thomism.org/atheism/atheist_murderers.htmlhttps://www.catholiceducation.org/en/controversy/answering-atheists/atheism-not-religion-is-the-real-force-behind-the-mass-murders-of-history.html

Please reinstate my account. As you can see, there is nothing hateful about posting facts in a tweet. I am not sure how Twitter can view facts as hate. Notice how I am not judging anyone nor making offensive statements.  These are facts on health and history.  Even @NYCgov tweeted the same information about hepatitis infection here:
https://twitter.com/nycgov/status/919227619635335168?s=19,





Why were they not suspended and I was?  My tweets are not hateful and my suspension is unwarranted.
I will have to contact the media and a Catholic law firm if you do not show consideration and reinstate my account.  There is no hate found in my tweets at all. The suspension you imposed is unwarranted.  You bill your network as allowing users to express themselves via free speech, yet you suspended me for sharing health and historical facts.  This is contrary to your company's vision.   Please restore my account.  




Let us see how they will respond this time.  Clearly, they are targeting religious and conservative accounts.  Last year, an employee deactivated President Trump's account on purpose. We can see that Twitter has a problem with employees who are bias and take their bias out on users. I believe this is the case with me.  My tweets are health and historical statistics.  Why did they not suspend the NYCGov account which posted the same thing? 

If Twitter does not restore my account, I will be contacting the media and lawyers to file a lawsuit against the company for infringing on my rights, religious speech, defamation and will ask for monetary damages for the loss I am facing due to the fact that I cannot tweet my Gofundme nor links to sell my books.  Their suspension of my account is totally unwarranted.  I have reported abuse against myself and others and Twitter ignored my complaints, yet they target me for tweets with health and history statistics... unbelievable. 

My account was falsely reported by a troll who was suspended a few months ago.  Apparently he thinks I got him suspended and took revenge. He tweeted this:










Please spread this post everywhere and send it to the media.  We need to fight back.

Pray for me!  I will fight this. 

Please flood Twitter with your concerns and complaints to Jack Dorsey and Del Harvey at their address and fax number:

Contact information

Our address and fax details are:
Twitter, Inc.
c/o Trust & Safety - Legal Policy
1355 Market Street, Suite 900
San Francisco, CA 94103
Fax: 1-415-222-9958 (attn: Trust & Safety - Legal Policy)
Twitter International Company
c/o Trust & Safety - Legal Policy
One Cumberland Place
Fenian Street
Dublin 2
D02 AX07
Ireland
Fax: 1-415-222-9958 (attn: Trust & Safety - Legal Policy)










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