I'm sorry but regardless of whether someone believes they are lying, when they repeat something that is demonstrably false, that is what they are doing. They may well believe they are telling the truth, but they are not. They are lying.
The key point, particularly with the Christian Cult of Ignorance as exemplified by Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort, is that they have become so proficient at lying that they can now lie consistently to themselves.
Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort are classic examples. There are three possibilities.
They are so severely deluded that they no longer have any contact with reality.
They may well really be as ignorant as they portray themselves. For example, Ray Comfort may well be so ignorant that he actually believes the banana he uses as an example was designed by God and not man.
However, someone that ignorant loses the right to hide behind the shield of ignorance once it has been pointed out to him that the banana he uses is an example of long term human design.
However he doesn't correct himself. He continues to make the same assertions as though they held any validity.
The third option is that he knows well he is lying and that his audience has been trained to ignore the slight of hand and falsehoods presented, so he continues it.
These folk show all the characteristics one would associate with fraud, with a con. The sole difference is that they can legally hide behind the shield and protection of Religion.
I think it is important to speak out against falsehoods. The money is one reason. While it might not seem like people such as Dr. Dino were "getting rich", they were doing far better than many of us, and doing so by cheating the folk that worked for them. The better ones bring in real chunks of change, the folk like the Gene Scotts and even Peter Popoff, who certainly meets the standards you outlined for Bill Clinton yet is back out there pulling in about a half million a year that he actually declares.
That ain't chump change.
The bigger reason is that these people continue to preach falsehoods. They continue to indoctrinate kids. They work to isolate children and shield them from outside information.
I agree that it is not a good idea to call a member here in a discussion a liar even when they do just that. However, the example you gave of Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron certainly would meet the standards of lying even if the continue to deny that they are doing so.
I do not believe that the majority of the Christian Cult of Ignorance are liars, however the leaders of the Christian Cult of Ignorance IMHO can only be so described.
Aslan is not a
Tame Lion
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