“You are one of the many people in your cult who assert P. But there are also a lot of people in your cult who assert ~P. Therefore, people in your cult believe the contradiction P & ~P, and you are all idiots who should quit your deceptive mind-killing cult and join mine.”
“Yeah, I used to believe that too when I was your age.” “Yeah, I used to believe that too when I didn’t have the education / resources / cult-membership to know better.” ”Yeah, I used to believe that too until I realized it was stupid.” “Yeah, I used to believe that too when I hung out with bad people.” ”Yeah, I used to believe that too when I was high all the time / before I’d ever dropped acid.” “Yeah, I used to believe that too before I converted / deconverted.” ”Yeah, I used to believe that too when I was rich / poor.” ″Yeah, I used to believe that too before I got therapy / Jesus / a copy of The Fountainhead.”
The cult one can be legitimate if the cult claims to have a source of absolute, no-interpretation-needed, truth and various cult members use it as reason to believe (separately) in P and ~P. While no individual person believes contradictory things, just the fact that the cult’s “absolute truth” can be used to deduce two contradictory things is a sign that it isn’t very good as a source of absolute truth.
“You are one of the many people in your cult who assert P. But there are also a lot of people in your cult who assert ~P. Therefore, people in your cult believe the contradiction P & ~P, and you are all idiots who should quit your deceptive mind-killing cult and join mine.”
“Yeah, I used to believe that too when I was your age.”
“Yeah, I used to believe that too when I didn’t have the education / resources / cult-membership to know better.”
”Yeah, I used to believe that too until I realized it was stupid.”
“Yeah, I used to believe that too when I hung out with bad people.”
”Yeah, I used to believe that too when I was high all the time / before I’d ever dropped acid.”
“Yeah, I used to believe that too before I converted / deconverted.”
”Yeah, I used to believe that too when I was rich / poor.”
″Yeah, I used to believe that too before I got therapy / Jesus / a copy of The Fountainhead.”
The cult one can be legitimate if the cult claims to have a source of absolute, no-interpretation-needed, truth and various cult members use it as reason to believe (separately) in P and ~P. While no individual person believes contradictory things, just the fact that the cult’s “absolute truth” can be used to deduce two contradictory things is a sign that it isn’t very good as a source of absolute truth.