(February 4, 2018 at 12:48 am)Jeezypete Wrote: Whenever a religious debate begins to happen (something I fervently try to avoid) I tend to act with empathy and compassion. I ask them to explain how god (or gods) have helped them. What void they fill or what obstacle they help them overcome. I never ask for them to defend themselves or debate logic. It’s always been my view that religion has never been about a debate of logic, but a debate of survival. People have religion often because it helps them get by either it be work or relationships. Using logic to debate with a religious person often doesn’t work because their arguments are not based on it, but rather a primal need to get by. When cornered about why I generally don’t subcribe to a religion (it happens from time to time) I simply say that “it’s ok to not know, and it’s ok to be afraid.” I then proceed to tell them this is what I tell myself when faced with the infinite black that stares back at all of us from time to time and it helps me get by. I try to be honest, friendly, and forgiving. I don’t succeed all time but it’s made my voyage through life a whole lot better.
That might work, except that the religious will not extend that very courtesy to you or anyone else. My god is a god of unconditional lurve, they say. But they also want you dead.
