Tuesday, May 8, 2018

WILD BILL FINLAY THE FAKE CONSERVATIVE

     There was an interesting article on Adrienne's blog today about an ongoing problem in certain Conservative circles: anti-Catholicism. It seems that some yahoo calling himself 'Wild Bill' Finlay posted a rhetorical question on Facebook: Should basic Bible knowledge be required to become Pope? The evident purpose of this meme was to elicit a throng of Catholic-bashing comments, which it did. 

     Well, to answer Finlay's question we'll mention a brief point. Finlay lists his theological training as Montana Bible College in Bozeman, Montana. Pope Francis' include San Jose University (Argentina); the Philosophical and Theological Faculty of San Miguel (Argentina); Milltown Institute of Philosophy and Theology (Dublin, Ireland); St. George Graduate School of Theology (Frankfurt, Germany). I think that we can safely assume that Francis had some basic Bible knowledge far above that of Finlay's.

      But that aside, the commentary on Finlay's page often descended into gutter-level Catholic-bashing on par with some of the 19th Century Know-Nothing Party's anti-Irish propaganda. And 'Wild Bill' didn't criticize any of it. Instead, he took a writer named Allison Lombardi to task for daring to stand up to these bigots. 

     "OK, Allison," he wrote rather ominously, "You pulled a pin on a grenade, now get ready for the blast!"

     "I'm not sure what you mean by that."  she replied.

     "If you want to defend the Catholic Faith, you better be prepared to get hammered with a lot of questions about some really questionable Catholic Doctrines. False religion is a serious threat to this country...so be prepared to have some battles on here...hopefully it will remain civil..."

      Regular readers here will note that this is a very common rhetorical tactic frequently employed by Manosphere Red Pill types like Dalrock, Vox Day, Rollo Tomassi, etc. There's actually a term for it: the Delphi Technique. Basically it's a device for achieving a desired consensus by triangulating a group discussion. Finlay throws out a topic; gets the desired response, then turns the discussion against a single critic. And note too the hints of violence that are subtly planted in that brief exchange.

       Besides that, for all his pretensions of being a theological expert, most of "the really questionable Catholic Doctrines" brought up by his readers are explained in the Catholic Catechism; which most of us read around age 12 before Confirmation. 

       Finlay garnered a lot of publicity and support in the Summer of 2017 when he was detained and deported from Canada as an undesirable alien. He was scheduled to speak at a political rally and "peaceful protest."  The fact that Canadian authorities stopped him at the airport and seized his computer for forensic analysis tends to make us a bit suspicious that a simple 'hate crime' was not their motivation, as Wild Bill strongly suggested.

       And there's reason to suspect that there's latent violence behind Finlay's activism, judging by the company he keeps. He's done public appearances with the psychologically-unbalanced Rev. James Manning. Manning believes that homosexuals should be executed by stoning and that Starbucks adulterates its coffee to induce homosexuality in its consumers. Manning praised ISIS once for destroying cultural artifacts on the grounds that ancient statues of Middle Eastern deities promotes idolatry. 

        Finlay is also a close associate of the Rev. Terry Jones whose great claim-to-fame was holding public book-burnings of the Koran and other Islamic literature. (I guess this is belated retaliation for the Moslem burning of the Alexandrian Library in the 7th Century). Jones shares with Finlay expulsion from a foreign country: in 2009, he was deported from Germany for running afoul of German anti-cult laws. Finlay, Manning, and Jones were all close to the late Rev. Fred Phelps. The four together could make a Mount Rushmore of Fanaticism. 

        We don't need kooks and charlatans like these in the Conservative Movement. They alienate people and give others a false impression of what we stand for and represent. 





UPDATE: Since writing this article, Adrienne also uncovered today Finlay's connection with a multi-level-marketing 'patriot' site. That supports our suspicion about him employing the Delphi Technique. The Delphi Technique is studied and used by many engaged in marketing and sales professions. 

         

      

5 comments:

  1. Night - for some unknown reason you were deleted from my Feedly. With hundreds on my Feedly, it went unnoticed. But, it's all fixed now.

    I will admit to finding Manning calling Odumbo a "long-legged mack daddy" rather amusing, but I sure wouldn't go to him for my Bible study.

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    1. Thanks---I've having glitches in Blogger lately too. Yes, I'd steer clear of Manning too. Him and Finlay and Jones come across as a really creepy bunch.

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  2. The Bill Finlays of this world do not seem to get it. When it comes to the united we stand divided we fall doctrine of common sense. The Muslims get it but not the BIll FInlays. Islam is predicated upon a "Long Game" of kill all Christians, In case Bill Fnlay hjasnt notieces that means kill all Baptists, Catholics, Presbyterians, Pentacostals, Lutherans, Greek Orthodox, Armenians...Islam means death to all Christians. Catholics the first Christian church was declared bad? What about all the other schisms that occurred after the reformation? Each splitting from an earlier reformation era "true Chruch" that was later also declared bad. And a newer "corrected" version appears.
    If anything the hegemony of Islam is forcing Christianity to look at unity - which the Bill FInlays will not allow themselves to participate in. Yes the catholic churches promotion if syncrisity has brought in much that is at best very poorly supported if at all in any biblical examination - but such syncrisity is also rampant in every denomination of Christianity in today's world embracing various tenants of liberalism and even secularism. Protestant bans on drinking and tobacco were brought into Christianity by Queen Victoria who admired Muslim and Hindu prohibitions and as head of the Anglican church she wanted pagan views codified into Christianity.
    Sadly in Christianity today we know more of what it is that Christians hate than what they love in all denominations.
    Even Richard Dawkins is bothered about the lack of Christian unity in the face of Islam
    https://www.jihadwatch.org/2018/03/atheist-richard-dawkins-warns-against-celebrating-demise-of-relatively-benign-christianity-in-europe

    As for the pope there are a few problems this article is a help; https://onepeterfive.com/vatican-cant-trusted/
    Ask yourself Are things any better since 2016?



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    1. You make some good points, but remember that Islam is no more united than Christianity. Most of the Jihadists are from the Wahhabi Cult and are considered heretics---especially by the Shiites. The Iranian Ayatollahs and the leaders of Hezbollah have issued Fatwas against ISIS and Al-Qaeda (which are both Wahhabi-controlled groups).

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    2. I forgot to add in answer to your question, Are things better than in 2016? I would say generally yes; at least better than I'd expected. But there's a LOT of work yet to be done.

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