(February 27, 2017 at 5:02 am)Socrates Wrote: There are many religious people who absolutely refuse to change their mind, some of them even call others who dont believe in their god and who claim to be open to being convinced a god exist closed minded.
So tell me, if I said, as an Atheist, that I refuse to change my mind, am I closed minded? If a religious person who agreed with you said they wouldn't change their mind, are they closed minded? What about religious people who disagree with you, are they closed minded?
The question is more aimed torwards religious people as you can probably tell.
If you think all the others who disagree with you are closed minded then what seperates your case from theirs?
Why in the first place would you refuse to change your mind about anything? That doesnt seem like an effective way to find truth, just clinging on to an answer and refusing to be convinced otherwise regardless of what we discover or see.
But how can you tell who is closed minded and who is not?
If someone says they will never change their mind, they ARE closed minded by definition. Whether they are an atheist or theist.
To not be closed minded, one must be able to change their views if presented with demonstrable evidence and reasoned argument. In other words, to base ones beliefs on the evidence.
As David Hume said, "a wise person proportions their belief to the evidence"
I have met very few atheists that say they will never change their mind. Most atheists that I know, are atheists due to insufficient demonstrable evidence and reasoned argument to justify belief in a god.
For me, atheism is a natural result of scepticism when applied to the god claim.
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
