Tuesday, March 06, 2012

Logical Fallacy of Expertise vs. Authority

In recent weeks, I've heard from people that dissent from Catholic teaching on contraception and Human Sexuality in general. One justification for dissent that keeps popping up is "The Bishops are all men, and celibate at that, so who are they to tell a woman what she can and cannot do with her body?"

Okay, well, let us telescope that reasoning out a bit:

"The Bishops are all priests, and unprofitable at that, so who are they to tell a corporation what it can and cannot do with its money?"

"The Bishops are all humans, and pro-population at that, so who are they to tell a corporation what it can and cannot do with the environment?"

"The Bishops are all citizens, and free at that, so who are they to tell a government what it can and cannot do with its prisoners?"

"The Bishops are all civilians, and pacifists at that, so who are they to tell a Government what it can and cannot do with its military?"

The bishops do not need to have personal experience in every possible field to articulate God's plan for creation, and the guidelines that Catholics should observe. A bishop's expertise should be the Word of God, and they should never hesitate to instruct the ignorant. Catholics need to heed the Church's teachings.

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