Ad Hominem Attacks
Ad hominem (Latin for "to the man" or "to the person"), short for argumentum ad hominem, is a logical fallacy in which an argument is rebutted by attacking the character, motive, or other attribute of the person making the argument, or persons associated with the argument, rather than attacking the substance of the argument itself.
Fallacious ad hominem reasoning is normally categorized as an informal fallacy, more precisely as a genetic fallacy, a subcategory of fallacies of irrelevance.
However, in some cases, ad hominen attacks can be non-fallacious; i.e., if the attack on the character of the person is directly tackling the argument itself. For example, if the truth of the argument relies on the truthfulness of the person making the argumentârather than known factsâthen pointing out that the person has previously lied is not a fallacious argument.
Ad hominem tu quoque (literally: "You also") refers to a claim that the source making the argument has spoken or acted in a way inconsistent with the argument. In particular, if Source A criticizes the actions of Source B, a tu quoque response is that Source A has acted in the same way. This argument is false because it does not disprove the premise; if the premise is true then Source A may be a hypocrite, but this does not make the statement less credible from a logical perspective.
Ad hominem circumstantial points out that someone is in circumstances such that they are disposed to take a particular position. Ad hominem circumstantial constitutes an attack on the bias of a source. This is fallacious because a disposition to make a certain argument does not make the argument false; this overlaps with the genetic fallacy (an argument that a claim is incorrect due to its source).
The circumstantial fallacy applies only where the source taking a position is only making a logical argument from premises that are generally accepted. Where the source seeks to convince an audience of the truth of a premise by a claim of authority or by personal observation, observation of their circumstances may reduce the evidentiary weight of the claims, sometimes to zero.
Pafret, substitute one of the above for your referenced, less than impressive Catholic Apologetical URL, as neither of the oaths it defensively quotes and denies, matches the printed copy in my home library.
http://www.evangelizationstation.com/htm_html/Anti-Catholicism/jesuit_oath_debunked.htm1. I´ve never found it necessary to access ¨your Jesuit´s oath¨ at the Library of Congress website.
2. No library, congressional or otherwise, authenticates the material they store/display/circulate.
3. If that is the ¨most preposterous trash,¨ you´ve encountered, your experience has been limited.
4. What we have is a rude, pompous, intolerant, uninformed and completely indoctrinated, i.e., brainwashed loyalist.
Over the centuries the Catholic church has forged numerous documents, ranging from letters written by Augustine, the Apostles Creed, the Immaculate Conception, to the so called "apostolic writings" by Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas (O. C. Lambert, Catholicism Against Itself, 1956, pgs. 54-68.)
(Lambert lists Augustine's forgeries: De Condition Cordis, Summa, Part III, Fourth Number, 119, De Penitentia, Summa, Part III, Third Number, 57 and Hypognosticon, Summa, Part III, Third Number, 77.
In the Catholic Encyclopaedia, Vol. VI, pg. 136, we have the following frank admission:
"Substituting of false documents and tampering with genuine ones was quite a trade in the Middle Ages."
And then we have the following quote too:
"One is forced to admit that the gradual corruption of Christianity began very early" (Catholic Encyclopaedia, Vol. XII, pg. 414.)
One of Rome's most bogus claims has been that of apostolic succession. Yet amazingly the Catholic church (much later on) was forced to own up and say the following about the Apostolic Canons, which allegedly deal with how the Apostles dictated material to St. Clement of Rome:
"A tradition (accepted because unexamined) long prevailed that these canons were dictated by the Apostles to St. Clement of Rome, who committed them to writing. Accurate research has dispelled this notion." (Catholic Dictionary, pgs. 41, 42.)
The following quote, which has long been refuted since the 16th century as being "authentic," is still cited and used by Catholics today, when wishing to uphold its hierarchical structure:
"A letter from Clement to James forms an epilogue to H. In it Clement relates how Peter before his death gave his last instructions and set Clement in his own chair as his successor in the See of Rome...The writer knows a complete system of ecclesiastical organisation. Peter sets a bishop over each city, with priests and deacons under him; the office of bishop is well defined" (Catholic Encyclopaedia, IV, pgs. 14-144.)
The above is inaccurate in many ways. The apostolic constitution of 270AD taught Linus as successor to Peter, not Clement. Yet this source (written allegedly by Clement himself) was later deemed a fake (authored 325AD), by the Catholic church:
"We must nevertheless abandon any attempt to argue from Clementine [20 books by this author], since the oldest parts betray themselves more and more as a product of the third century - he was guilty of arbitrary inventions and changes" (Catholic Encyclopaedia, VII, pgs. 327.)
Once again Rome was forced to come clean after some real scholars raised their game and exposed forgeries with Christendom, dating back centuries.
Interestingly, Lambert remarks in page 56, how Thomas Aquinas embarrassingly quotes "seven times from these forgeries."
An Infallible church, with infallible popes, churning out forgeries, with their own scholars not knowing the difference between forgeries and the real thing, how are the poor old laity supposed to make heads or tails of it!
One may ask: how did Rome get away with lying for so long to the masses? Well, if Emperor Leo (401-474AD) couldn't read or write, one can easily guess have rampant ignorance was too the rest of the then Catholic world (Lambert, pg. 63.)
"Writers of the forth century were prone to describe many practises (i.e., The Lenten Fast of Forty Days) as apostolic institutions which certainly had no claim to be so regarded" (Catholic Encyclopaedia, Vol. III, pg. 484.)
Rome also forged the infamous The Donation of Constantine, dated 30 March 315 AD.
"The supposed donation of Emperor Constantine, [was] probably forged in the eight century" (Catholic Encyclopaedia, XIV, pg. 714.)
This forged document records how Constantine not only contracted leprosy all over his body (which pagan priests failed to cure), but also received a vision from Peter and was told to contact "pope" Sylvester, hiding on Mount Soracte, who would cure him. Apparently Sylvester made him well and Constantine restored Christian Churches worldwide to their former glory. Also part of this forged document was how Constantine had kindly handed over his own power and sovereignty to the bishop of Rome.
This elaborate hoax circulated throughout the Catholic church for years and helped build up their so-called apostolic authority throughout the pagan world, but it was totally false and had no truth whatsoever within it.
It should also be said that when Luther became aware of this, it convinced him even more to launch the Reformation.
Constantine did, however, "convert" to Christianity through the Arian bishop Eusebius, but only on his deathbed, at the 11th hour, in 337AD (Dr. Peter De Rosa, Vicar's of Christ, pgs. 55, 56.)
And in 1944 we discover how a Dr. J.V. Simcox, professor of Canon Law at St. Edmunds College Ware - the Roman Catholic ecclesiastical seminary for the Archdiocese of Westminster - finally broke ranks (he had held his post for 23 years), and decided to publicly complain of other forgeries and deceptions:
"God does not need our lies; and Catholics who fear truth in matters of religion confess that they do not really believe Catholicism to be from God" (Is the Roman Catholic Church a Secret Society?, pg. 30.)
Questions, comments, insults, frenzied denials?
pafret wrote:
I checked out your "Jesuit Oath" also Know as "The Knights of Columbus Oath" on file in the Library of Congress -- it is the most preposterous piece of trash I have ever read. Only a fool would lend credence to this document.
This oath was circulated anonymously during an election campaign full of dirty tricks. So much so that it was investigated by Congress and the document containing the Oath was disavowed by both parties. It was entered into the Library as part of the committees report on the election. See this website for full details.
http://www.evangelizationstation.com/htm_html/Anti-Catholicism/jesuit_oath_debunked.htmSo what we have is a document anonymously circulated during a heated election campaign. Both sides disavowed its authenticity. It was included in a House Report summarizing an investigation of that election, because it was attached to a document submitted by one of the candidates. The Report was reprinted in the Congressional Record.
All in all, no sane person could conclude that this constitutes any sort of "authentication" of this document by Congress.
I checked out your "Jesuit Oath" also Kn... (
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