Kirbmarc Wrote:If their egos are fragile enough to be shocked by the truth, they definitely need to grow a spine. Ignorance is not bliss, it's a drug.
Fair point!
Quote:Or maybe do a lot of good. You don't have to assume that all people are fragile porcelain dolls. As long as you're nor forcing anyone to do anything and you don't insult anyone personally, any bad feeling that they experience is only due to their immaturity.
I have plenty of theist friends who enjoy a healthy debate and are not afraid of my opinions. I'm sure that most of friends are mature enough to do the same.
I just think that contrary to what we may think about this, the human brain actually retains the information is has received especially when it hits "home" or it rattles your beliefs. I know this from my experience of deconversion. In the very very early stages where I was still 99% Christian, I had thoughts at the back of my head that I would deny on forums, but deep down I knew that those atheists were right about that certain thing we happened to be discussing. How long until one comes to accept those thoughts? Well, it really depends on the person. My point is though, that I am perfectly capable of planting those seeds whether they tell me outright that they can handle a hardcore debate on the topic or not. Once they have heard the argument then the damage is already done, whether they say they disagree with you or not.
Quote:Why is that a bad thing?Because I can see the happiness she gets out of religion. What's more important; happiness or the truth? I guess the issue I'm struggling with here is a lot deeper than that because I can look at myself and say that I'm arguably a lot happier with my current belief than with Christianity. What I'm not so happy about though is that now that all my friends know who I really am, I feel like I might have to rebuild my life. E.g: I can't really date any of the girls I know anymore because so much of our views on life conflict. Therefore I need to start meeting new people altogether... so coming back to the original point, if her "world" is destroyed then I'm confident that she will face hardships that will make her anything but happy like she is right now.
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it" ~ Aristotle
