Consider the Source

(click for full size)

I didn't think too much of this pamphlet when I came across it six months ago. Anti-Papist sentiments, while not uncommon in Protestant tracts, have fallen somewhat out of style. Rather than criticizing Catholics for their loyalty to the Pope, or portraying the Pope as the Anti-Christ, more topical criticism has been leveled in recent years due to the multitude of sex abuse cases brought against Catholic priests. Nothing all that new here.

From a rhetorical perspective, the author commits a logical fallacy not uncommon with theistic thinkers: cum hoc ergo propter hoc -- correlation does not imply causation. By this logic, one could claim a direct link between global warming and the dwindling pirate population. Again, nothing all that new or surprising.

Then I took a look at organization distributing this particular piece of nonsense:

" FOUKE, Ark. — Six children have been placed in temporary state custody as they are interviewed in the wake of a raid on a church compound as part of a child-porn investigation, Arkansas police said Sunday.

The children will be under the care of the state Department of Human Services during the interviews, said state police spokesman Bill Sadler. He didn't say how long the interviews would last.

More than 100 federal and state police raided the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries in the small southwestern Arkansas town of Fouke on Saturday as part of a two-year investigation into child abuse and pornography allegations against convicted tax evader Tony Alamo."

(full AP story here.)

Turns out this was distributed by Tony Alamo Christian Ministries Worldwide. Pastor Alamo - legal name Bernie Lazar Hoffman -- was convicted of 10 counts of interstate transportation of minors for illegal sexual purposes, rape, sexual assault, and contributing to the delinquency of minors and sentenced to 175 years in federal prison.

Alamo was convicted on July 24, 2009. The fact that his followers continue to distribute Alamo tracts over a year after he was sent to prison is a testament to the resiliency of cult indoctrination. I'm also a bit surprised at how far this pamphlet as traveled geographically from Alamo's base in Arkansas.

CNN interview conducted after Alamo's arrest: