(April 26, 2018 at 4:38 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote:(April 25, 2018 at 5:36 pm)henryp Wrote: I'm saying that ideas can be trendy, and the trendiness of atheism has as much to do with it's growth as it being correct.
I really don't think that's the case. A genre of music can be trendy, or a particular brand of trainers, or a cuisine. But I very much doubt that people are becoming atheists because their friends are doing it, or they want to be like the cool kids at school. The transition from theist to non-theist is frequently an arduous and painful one, often causing rifts between friends and even family members. Doesn't exactly sound 'trendy'.
Boru
Here's what I always look for in these sorts of things. When do stupid people start joining the new cause. Because stupid people aren't making most of their decisions based on reasoning things out. That's not in the toolbox. They follow along with what appears to be correct. If you ask idiot theists about atheists, they'd say atheists are dumb. If you ask idiot atheists about theists, they'd say theists are dumb.
So to win them over, you need to make them associate the alternative with 'smart.' Smart people like Neil Degrasse Tyson. That's why idiots are all of a sudden 'into' science now.
As for the rifts, any time you can feel superior to someone else, that's always in.
