I think you are too generous regarding the character of Mr Worley. I was always told that you cannot con an honest man.

Most cons involve the participant in some illegal activity that goes wrong and the reason they cannot report it is because it was illegal. All these email scams make it quite clear that they want you to participate in something illegal or of very questionable morality.

The fact that Worley was a keen participant is not due to his credulousness as a religious person but rather that as a religious figurehead he is used to lying for a living. Either intentionally or self deception. I am reminded of Diogenes who walked streets of Athens in full daylight carrying a torch looking for an honest man. I am sure there must be a good and honest, kind and thoughtful religious person who puts others before him or herself but I have never met one. Perhaps Francis of Assisi with his vow of poverty came close. But all the ones I have met have all the common frailties plus harsh and judgmental viewpoints often coupled with personal agrandisement, avarice and financial acquisitiveness and quite a few sexual pecadillos. None of which I mind but for the easy lies and hypocrisy and placing themselves on a higher moral pedestal than the rest of us at the same time.

Since most religious pricks behave like children I see it only fitting that they R treated as such! There4 every1 shall adopt another belief Only this time It’ll B TRUE! the saying is as follows:
RELIGION = A GODDAMN SCAM + GOD = AN IMAGINARY FAIRY

I’d suggest that certain personality types are attracted to the kinds of Christian organizations that re-enforced their ignorance.  It goes both ways.  You don’t get smart rational people in the Evangelical ranks because the tenants of their outlook just don’t fit with intellectual skepticism.  It’s a feedback loop that works between the organization and the people who are attracted to it.

I don’t think you can BLAME the guy’s religion for his mistakes, but you can make a case that his denomination may have supported and enabled his gullibility.  The dude seemed predisposed to be an idiot… It’s certainly not surprising, to me at least, at the kind of church he ended up at…

for the day the tag Nigerian would be removed from in front of scammer. dont u all get, that 90% of all scammers at ur backyards?in the USA, russia, asia? lets begin breaking this down.thanks

Skeptico writes…

Aren’t you confusing correlation with causality in this post?  I don’t see how you’ve demonstrated the guy’s religion caused his credulity.  Surely he was credulous to start with, which is why he was taken in so easily by another ridiculous idea?

I agree that Mr. Worley was credulous to start with and the article is honestly preciously little to draw conclusions from, but I felt it was pretty clear how his faith undermined his reasoning ability several times during the course of his misadventure.

So, no, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that Worley’s credulous nature was caused by Christianity, but I would say that Christianity didn’t help make him any less credulous and, in fact, contributed to his becoming worse. Certainly his greed played a large role in getting him into his mess as well, but I argue that his belief system encourages him to believe in spite of his doubts or what reality seems to be trying to tell him and as such was actively undermining his ability to reason.

Aren’t you confusing correlation with causality in this post?

Well spotted Skeptico- I should have seen this myself, as a lover of getting annoyed at maths mistakes.  Its the mistake that Christians make when they respond to the accusation about religeon causing hate, when they say Hitler and Stalin were athiests. Dawkins points out thats like saying silly moustaches cause genocide.

Les:

Aren’t you confusing correlation with causality in this post?  I don’t see how you’ve demonstrated the guy’s religion caused his credulity.  Surely he was credulous to start with, which is why he was taken in so easily by another ridiculous idea?  A common thing (Brain chemistry? Upbringing?) caused his credulity regarding both religion and Nigerian scammers.  As much as I despise religion I don’t see how it is to blame in this case.

***Dave:

Re: But the alternative to credulity seems to be cynicism—a kneejerk disbelief in anything something says

False dilemma.  There is another alternative, namely to look for evidence a claim is true while remembering that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

My charge in this entry is that the Christian faith as presented by the majority of it’s leaders promotes an unhealthy credulity among its followers.

I suppose it depends on what one considers as unhealthy.  That said, I’ll more than grant that some “Christian leaders” do promote an unhealthy credulity in their own behaviors.

That said I’m not advocating for cynicism, but healthy skepticism. I do feel it’s quite possible to be a believer and still maintain a healthy sense of skepticism in other areas. You are a fine example of this yourself.

Thank you.  Again, “healthy” and “unhealthy” are somewhat in the eyes of the beholder.  But I try to maintain—or, perhaps, refuse to root out—a “healthy skepticism” about much of even my own faith … beyond the “leap of faith” assertion in a Deity, how do I know that what I believe about said Being and Its teachings is accurate, germane, properly applied, etc.—and, if I can’t trust myself in that, how the hell can I blindly trust anyone else. 

Which is different, I suppose, from automatically mistrusting people.  I just don’t think humans are equipped to hold all the answers (though I think our purpose is to try and learn as many as we can), any more than kindergardeners are equipped to understand the trivium and quadrivium (but we expect them to learn what they can).  And, that said, I *do* automatically mistrust anyone who asserts they have all the answers, or who appears overly confident of what God has in mind for me.

Don’t get me wrong, I think these Christians are compelte retards whether they act out their fairy tales or not, but this isn’t a lack of skepticism that led him to break the law. As a kid I heard an old saying that I recall whenever I see scams like this (and like all spam, people would not still be sending them if they didn’t work):

You can only cheat the greedy.