Gish Gallop
The above image was created by The Reason Project, an enterprise of Sam Harris✡️. It might be the ultimate demonstration of the rhetorical technique known as gish gallop. Not just the ultimate example in religious discourse, but the ultimate example in all conversation. A gish gallop is defined thus:
- Gish Gallop
- a debate strategy involving the overwhelming use of false arguments (Merriam Webster)
At first glance, one might say that having such an extensive catalogue of examples strengthens the case against the God of the King James Bible. However, this is deceptive.
Essentially, the idea is to create so many small fires that the interlocutor can’t address them all in a reasonable amount of time. This goes hand in hand with lying, of course.
Someone who actually has the goods is far more likely to bring one or two of their strongest arguments rather than produce 439 arguments.
Of course, maybe a book really could have 439 contradictions. One for every year Sam’s progenitors spent in Egypt, and change! If we are to be intellectually rigorous, how do we inspect the truth claim without wasting undue amounts of time?
I submit a very simple technique: simply analyze the first argument presented in the list. If it doesn’t hold up? The entire list can be discarded without further inspection. This goes with the principle that a truthteller would present his best arguments first.
Let’s practice this principle with Sam’s image. Take a look at the first entry. You might have to open the image in a new tab in order to read it!
- How many men did the chief of David’s captain kill? 2sam 23:8 ≠ 1chron 11:11
Great question. Let’s look up the two references:
These be the names of the mighty men whom David had: The Tachmonite that sat in the seat, chief among the captains; the same was Adino the Eznite: he lift up his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time. (2 Samuel 23:8 KJV)
And this is the number of the mighty men whom David had; Jashobeam, and Hachmonite, the chief of the captains: he lifted up his spear against three hundred slain by him at one time. (1 Chronicles 11:11 KJV)
How very. A few problems:
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At first glance, it’s not clear that these passages are even talking about the same person.
The same name is simply not used in both texts. One might argue that since he’s called “chief” among the captains that it must be the same guy, except that both chapters explicitly talk about chiefs succeeding one another.
However, the text is somewhat ambiguous on the point of identity; In both cases the next verse says that the successor of the man in question was Eleazar the son of Dodo. We thus move to the a more fundamental problem with the argument:
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If you slay eight hundred men at once, you’ve also slain three hundred at once. In fact, you have to slay three hundred to get to eight hundred. This is admittedly an usual phrasing in contemporary 21st century English. However, is it really so unusual for a book which frequently makes use of semi-archaic speech involving numbers? For example:
These six things doth the LORD hate: Yea, seven are an abomination unto him Proverbs 6:16
He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee. Job 5:19
It’s a possible explanation, but I’m not super satisfied with it.
This leads us to the most sound explanation for this contradiction-falsely-so-called:
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These could be two separate events.
You might say that it would be strange to mention the three hundred example when the eight hundred is so much more impressive. If God is only going to mention one, why not just mention the eight hundred? I submit that both events are impressive, and that God mentions them both. One he mentions in 2 Samuel. The other he mentions in 1 Chronicles. This expansion of information surrounding the character in fact fits rather well, since we are also given his second name.
So was Contradiction 1 really a contradiction? Not so much. As such, it’s safe to dismiss the entire chart.
Thanks for strengthening my faith, Sam!