If it looks unbelievable, there might just be a good reason for that.

[LiberalAndProud]

This from a Christian Today contributing editor. Ummm ... no duh?

All of which tells us that a side-effect of faith is an occasional disposition to gullibility. That certainly doesn't prove we're all entirely misguided, but it is a note of caution. The proliferation of Christian Internet hoaxes mean that we should always think for at least a moment before sharing that amazing story. Because if it looks unbelievable, there might just be a good reason for that...

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/albert.einsteins.atheist.professor.and.other.christian.hoaxes/59651.htm

[mountain grammy]

1. Yeah, no duh! Enjoyed the article

also another one about the Pope.

[onager]

2. Thanks! But this actually happened...

Famous examples include a story about Pharoah's Chariot and the bones of horses being discovered in the Red Sea, which first appeared on a comedy news site, but was then spread as fact by Christians who hadn't checked their source.

That claim of discovering chariot parts in the Red Sea was made by Ron Wyatt - notorious Xian huckster, charlatan and general con artist.

Xians fell for Wyatt's nonsense - and funded his "archeological expeditions" - for decades. He even started his own company, WAR - Wyatt Archelogical Research.

Wyatt also claimed he had discovered Noah's Ark and many other gen-u-wine Bible artifacts.

He capped his career with an Indiana-Jones type yarn about discovering the Ark of the Covenant and the gold from Solomon's temple in a Saudi Arabian cave.

Unfortunately...the Saudis got onto his Great Discovery. They ringed the cave with armed soldiers and swiped all the Jewish gold before poor Ron Wyatt could bring back any...uh...er...proof.

I hate it when that happens.

By the end of his career, Wyatt had stolen so much money and told so many lies that even some of the most credulous Fundies turned against him.

Just do an internet search on him for hours of amusement.

[LiberalAndProud]

3. Well, you know ...

DH is not a believer except there was a documentary about one of the Noah's Ark discoveries that has him convinced that it could be. Why are these discoveries always made in places where we can't investigate further? It's ... inconvenient.

[onager]

6. Really? Wonder which...

Documentary that was. I try to see all of those, for the lulz.

I remember the "Ark Discovery" guy, who did a Gish-gallop type documentary. He walked around that "boat-shaped stone" formation in Turkey and spewed out amazing finds at a rapid rate.

This show was on NatGeo, IIRC, so they had a whole team of real scientists investigating his claims.

My favorite was "ANCHOR STONES FROM THE ARK!1!" Samples of these were submitted to a somewhat bemused geologist at the Univ. of California.

He analyzed the rocks and they turned out to be local volcanic rock. The scientist pointed out that the rocks shouldn't be local if Noah brought them on the Ark. Which he built several thousand miles away...

[edhopper]

4. You mean like a God

who only talked to a few goat herders in a small area of the world for a few years and then vanished.

Stuff like that?

[Curmudgeoness]

5. My thoughts exactly.

In fact, when I saw the title of the OP, I just assumed it was about belief in God and all the Bible stories.

[Major Nikon]

7. Nah, religious hucksters are only a modern phenomena

[uriel1972]

8. Do I detect sarcasm?

Yes, I think I do.

[Major Nikon]

9. Jesus got paid

Just sayin'