Christian missionary becomes atheist after trying to convert tribe

[EgoDeath]

Maybe "respect" comes across too strongly. 

I meant something like: not treat them as dummies before we have proof that they're dummies. Just the standard rule of thumb that everybody knows something I don't.

So, you're changing your statement now?

Yes, granted! 

Just because life is short, we can't devote time to bigots. There are harmful people.

Interesting. The first thing that I, and a lot of people here on this board, think of when the word "bigot" is brought up is something like this:





And, let me stop you before you even try it. No, of course this does not represent the majority of Christians. However, this type of thinking represents the more extreme end of a spectrum of hateful thought that inhabits a lot of religious thought.

So, no. Excuse me if I don't think we should respect these people or their beliefs. Excuse me if I don't think they "might know something" I don't. I don't give a fuck, even if they do.

Yesterday on a different thread someone was saying to me that even the wisest of religious writers is "gullible" and never worth reading. (I had mentioned Martin Buber, a Jewish existentialist writer who wrote in reaction to Nietzsche.) 

Well, the problem is, time and time again, religious "thinkers" have proven themselves to be insanely gullible, intellectually lazy and disingenuous people. This isn't something that atheists or other skeptics are coming up with out of thin air. We are observing and reporting on an actual, witnessed phenomenon. So, does someone being religious automatically mean they're not worth listening to? Of course not. But, they're probably not worth listening to on the subject of religion, as they're inherently biased. Unless, of course, a person just has some interest in learning about a religion. And even then, they should be careful about which religious "thinker" they listen to.

I understand that nobody has time to read everything, but I think that refusing to listen to people like that is a mistake.

Nope. There's plenty of people we shouldn't even begin to bother listening to. Plenty.

Also the video in the OP tells us something about TED talks. If an anthropologist had gone to Africa, met a group of Christians, and been persuaded by their questions to convert to their religion, he would not have been offered a talk.

That's an interesting speculation. But that's all it is. Speculation. There are more than a couple TED talks by religious individuals who speak on faith and their religion. Not many, granted, but they're out there. Although, people who attend TED talks are people interested, at least somewhat, in deeper, intellectual topics. After all, it isn't a Kid Rock concert, is it?

We already know about the correlation between intelligence and religiosity.

It's really no surprise that there are not too many religious TED talks.

Though a scientist's conversion the other way might be just as interesting and more challenging to established opinion on this forum. (Depending on the guy who converted.)

Jesus Bel you just cannot help but be the contrarian. You're the guy who roots against the home team, aren't ya?