Reductio ad Absurdum: How to most efficently communicate with theists

[drfuzzy]

I'm not sure that's as useful as it might seem.  It would only be through ignorance of the breadth of the divine that any given believer considers their faith against another subset of the same faith and comes out the other end feeling like they have to make a choice between two concepts to maintain a rational belief in the overriding set (that of god). 

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I could tell you about a conversation I had with my father in law - similar in approach, no argument of particulars, tacit assumption of truth..that sort of thing.  His frustration by the end was palpable.  He barked at me that he didn;t have all the answers and we didn't speak for the rest of the drive.  It might be the only time in my life that I can say with certainty some dissenting notion I wanted to communicate had found a home in someone else's head.  

Now here's the rub.  It wasn't any sort of victory.  Either personally or ideologically.  He has near constant occasion to cite Joshua, and whenever he does..I hear my own words, my own dissent to his previous beliefs, buttressing his now modified faith in the miraculous as a fundamental observation.  

Those girls, in the "best" of cases...I'd estimate that their faith was ultimately strengthened by the encounter, conversation, and subsequent consideration.  We can stop looking at the moment that we see a blank expression on someones face and say "see, it works", but if we stop observing that face at that moment, we don't really know what end to which it will ultimately be put.  We might imagine, pleasantly, that "reason wins out" (as loose as I use that)..I think that;s naive.

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I think that we have to realize that every person we encounter is going to react differently, watch for those reactions, and adjust as necessary.  The point was that the women were led to question just one small assumption: "my church is the right one".  Questioning small false assumptions can lead to bigger questions.  Whether this question had that effect with the two women is not the point.  My point was that it's can feel safer for someone with beliefs that they are not allowed to question to chip away at the tiny ingrained beliefs that are safe to question.