RE: Christian missionary becomes atheist after trying to convert tribe
September 25, 2019 at 1:02 pm
(September 25, 2019 at 7:27 am)Belaqua Wrote: A wise man!
Always good to respect and listen to the "other side."
Listen yes, respect, no. People earn respect, their existential beliefs gain respect when they can be supported by evidence.
Quote:Always good to admit we may be wrong. Always good to resist the ego-defenses of a challenge.
Difficult to do, but apparently he did it.
This is one of my main motivations in having these kinds of discussions, to learn new things, and to correct or eliminate faulty beliefs.
Unlike most theists, I really care if my beliefs are true, or likely to be true. To that end, I base my beliefs on the best tools known to discern fact from fantasy.
The discomfort from initial ego-defense mechanism that kicks in when proven wrong, is worth the satisfaction gained from eliminating a false belief from my world view.
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.
