Hypocrisy is the grist of religion–and more specifically of Christianity. Just this week, Bethel church came under fire for promoting an incantation from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. In the video (link below). church leaders declare racism as ended while invoking the incantation of Gandalf, a fictional wizard in a fictional novel: “Thou Shalt Not Pass!” This is obviously problematic.
As well-intended as they may have been, this is really not how anything works, at least the Bible does not support it. And this becomes the social media posts of the week and it is just embarrassing for Christians.
Secularists on the other hand place their faith in science to explain and answer to man’s many woes.
The famed Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC states, “evolutionary theory is the backbone of chemistry and biology, the through-line that makes sense of all the sciences”. In essence, evolution is the ONE science upon which all other sciences are validated. Since Christians reject evolutionary theory (mostly), then all other science falls apart.
One of the most notorious evolutionists was (arguably) atheist Chris Hitchens. Hitchens debated evolution vs. Christianity the vast majority of his career. His complete faith was in science. One of his famous positions (as is the case with many secularists) was the legalization and free use of Medical and recreational marijuana. You can see his own interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvYJRKXmplM.
The irony that I have observed is that generally speaking, secularists, evolutionists, liberals, and just about anyone hostile against creationism, fully embraces the legalization of marijuana. While thumping the Bible of science to refute the tenets of Christianity and creationism, they also promote the wonderful benefits of medical and recreational marijuana.
Hypocrisy
The sad reality is, SCIENCE is demonstrating over and over that marijuana usage has significant neurological and cognitive impact on users that can never be reversed (see
To me, the ultimate hypocrisy of liberals is that they embrace the fringe leg of science that refutes Christian creationism, while at the same time, completely disregarding the overwhelming science that denounces the use of marijuana for ANY purpose. This whole stance, therefore, becomes self-refuting. Just as a “Christian” cannot explain sabbath laws and their meanings in modern culture, liberalists fall short to provide empirical evidence for the legalization of marijuana. It is as if liberals stick to a script of accepting some science, while completely rejecting other science. Or, in the words of our definition, hypocrisy is found when an individual who claimed to believe in science does not confirm that that science in other areas of life.
Current research is beginning to reveal the neurological effects of marijuana usage during adolescence. While the neurological changes are not fully understood, several studies have shown that “heavy, long-term [marijuana use] is associated concurrently with impaired neurocognitive function” (Castellanos-Ryan et al., 2017, p. 1253). Ironically, in Washington state, over 40% of marijuana users report lower “grades in school (C’s, D’s or F’s) compared to those who don’t use [marijuana].” (Healthy Youth Survey, 2019, p. 1).
States that have legalized marijuana for recreational use have higher than average high school drop out rates. The most recent statistics from the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) reveal that six marijuana legal states have high school dropout rates that exceed the national average (National Center for Education Statistics, 2019, cols. 1 & 3). Additionally, four of those states fall into the top 15 states with the highest dropout percentages, including Washington.
Here are some resources, and, believe me, I haven’t even scratched the surface.
