Life Is Short; Have an Affair

[drfuzzy]

No, I don't think that it planted those seeds at all.  They already believe themselves to be fallen creatures.  Thats a full blown crop, currently being harvested.  It's not that I don't think events in the real world have impact, I just think that we mis-attribute -constantly-.  Disgraced leaders don't seem to be able to disgrace their platforms quiet as competently as we might hope.  If a person, for example, falls away from islam because of Hamza....I just think (on top of the above) it's a toss up that they'll fall right back in as soon as they find some other talking head to reaffirm what they clearly wish to believe, because what Hamza is or isn't, does or doesn't do, isn't a very good reason to take up or lay down a faith (nor does it seem to be all that effective), it has absolutely -no- bearing on the truth of islam, or the question of allah, and the mechanisms for incorporating that failure into the narrative are already in place and already shown to be very, very effective.

"If a person, for example, falls away from islam because of Hamza....I just think (on top of the above) it's a toss up that they'll fall right back in as soon as they find some other talking head to reaffirm what they clearly wish to believe."

This is something I found astonishing even when I called myself a Xtian: how many people just jump from following one preacher to the next without even the slightest pause.  We attended a lot of "fringe" churches when I was a child.  5 preachers in a row were caught either having affairs or molesting children.  My parents just found another church, and "isn't the Pastor wonderful?" was the theme - until he wasn't, and they had to find the next one.  I decided, by the age of 13 or 14, that I should never be in a room alone with a preacher!