RE: Barriers to atheist - theist dialogue
February 11, 2013 at 9:56 am
(This post was last modified: February 11, 2013 at 9:59 am by Anymouse.)
(February 10, 2013 at 8:15 pm)Gabriel Syme Wrote: 2) Atheists discussing "religion" as though it were a homogenous massReligion is a homogeneous mass. All religions, regardless of the window dressing of their particular beliefs (Islam, Judaism, various forms of Christianity) all ultimately believe in the same thing: that there are instances/beings that are "supernatural."
Atheism says nothing about what a person believes, only that such a person does not believe (any) theistic claims about the supernatural. [A rational atheist, if presented with incontrovertible proof of a theistic claim would presumably accept it, but if it is buttressed with evidence or observation, it is no longer supernatural, it is science.]
As for going after specific religions, the overwhelming majority of people around here are Lutherans. Countering the claims of Islam or Catholicism doesn't accomplish much where I live.
The difficult part is showing the Lutheran that his claims have no more merit than a Catholic's or a Muslim's, at least as regards what is observably true about our world and universe.
None of them really seem to understand that observation and evidence apply to all things (not just all things but their own pet belief system).
They use technology, and yet see no evidence for computers or hydroelectric plants in the Bible. They ascribe surgical success to God (not to the skill of a surgeon). They ascribe morality to a book, while not understanding that they must have an innate moral system to determine if that book is a moral guide.
All religions do this. They are thus a homogeneous mass by definition.
"Be ye not lost amongst Precept of Order." - Book of Uterus, 1:5, "Principia Discordia, or How I Found Goddess and What I Did to Her When I Found Her."
