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Why is it so difficult to convince devout atheists the value of not making strawmen

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Paleocon

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Why is this?

I suspect that the reasons are rooted in human behavior and more specifically human desire to know, or as the case may be, to avoid coming to the conclusion that we in many cases don't know.

For some a bad explanation is better than no explanation at all.

Christianity offers answers to questions that for some need to be answered. Christianity offers an extremely attractive social network made of of like minded people who "witness" to one another and provide answers to questions that in many cases aren't know and in some cases, probably cant be known. Faith, especially deep devout faith among a large group of people leads to a powerful group mentality. To reject or even to seriously question a formally held religious belief is tantamount to social and spiritual suicide. To mentally tether yourself to an idea founded entirely on faith can be a terrible traumatic link to break. Many maintain the illusion simply to avoid the mental and social consequences that denial brings.

I don't condone religion, but I understand the social and physiological draw.

The irony, and I'm as guilty as anyone, is that the more we try to convince the devout believer that they are wrong, the more deeply they retreat into their belief system. After all, if they are wrong, why do we care so much? They conclude that our violent aversion must be because we fear they are right only re-enforcing the notion that they must be right.

In the end I suspect that LM's of this message board are few and far between, though their influence (in the big picture) is much greater than the number of people they represent. The weakness of mainstream everyday Christianity, the kind that accepts evolution, don't concern itself with the lives of homosexuals (on a purely religious basis) and isn't the least bit interested in having their ideas about god taught in schools has little or any grounds to stand on to reject the more radical forms of Christianity. After all, if you can concede something can be known by faith (without evidence), then anything can be known without evidence.

Can this cycle be broken? Can society value evidence and still hold religious ideals? I suspect the problem lay in the idea that spiritual is a religious term. People want to feel and identify with spiritual feelings but fear that letting go or religion means letting go of spirituality, I think this not be the case.
 
Re: Why is it so difficult to convince devout atheists the value of not making strawm

Why is this?

He has a point worth discussing. He did not make an all or none statement placing all Christians into the same group. What he states is true of many religions or belief systems or especially cults (like the David Koresh group), and he states as much.

So... not a strawman, but rather a pretty clear statement of his opinion that is at least partly based in fact. At least as much fact as opinion.
 
Re: Why is it so difficult to convince devout atheists the value of not making strawm

Why is it difficult to convince fundamentalists that 99% of the population thinks they're bat**** insane?

Who knows, there are a lot of questions that simply cannot be answered.
 
Re: Why is it so difficult to convince devout atheists the value of not making strawm

He has a point worth discussing. He did not make an all or none statement placing all Christians into the same group. What he states is true of many religions or belief systems or especially cults (like the David Koresh group), and he states as much. So... not a strawman, but rather a pretty clear statement of his opinion that is at least partly based in fact. At least as much fact as opinion.
Yeah, I don't see the strawman here.
 
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