I've been giving it a little thought lately, and I think part of the problem with a typical atheist debate is it doesn't address the causes for belief or the resistance to change one's mind. To an atheist, the debates that address evolution, lack of evidence, date of the universe, big bang, etc address the crux of the issues. But to a religious person, I think that only addresses the surface of their concerns. It doesn't get to the roots of why a religious person would want to resist the truth.
Imagine a 50 year old who's been religious all his life. Has a wife, kids, family, friends, coworkers/boss, that largely have shared his views, for much, if not all of their lives. What our argument asks of them is not only to look for evidence for his beliefs - a tough intellectual challenge to take on after years/decades of indoctrination, but to accept this totally opposite view in the face of all that social structure. I believe that is great pressure not to believe in the science that invalidates their beliefs. So even though the evidence stands for itself, they will nevertheless find ways to rationalize its inaccuracy.
I think this is massive motivation to cling to their beliefs, and it's one I've seldom, if ever, thought about before the other day. It makes me wonder what other reasons I'm not considering that would pressure them to believe. There may be many.
What I think would be a fantastic atheistic project would be to survey religious people to ask them aside from their belief that it's true, what reasons they believe in religion. Obviously, surveys have inherent dangers with the wording of questions, and the legitimacy of the answers, especially for polemic topics. But I think it would be useful in any case. Hopefully, the survey would produce at least a handful of "secondary" reasons that people have faith, that the atheistic debates don't address. Or maybe hundreds of reasons, which are sorted based on frequency reported or significance or something. Then an atheist think tank could produce a report on how to counter these top 5/10 additional fears. I think these are really the barriers that hold people back, and if you could allay/comfort/address those, they would come tumbling down.
Obviously the survey and the think tank are the processes/institutions I think might be beyond the reach of this forum that I alluded to in the other post. Are there any admins that have connections to such organizations? Or is this purely a conglomeration of generally like-minded individuals? Suppose a survey couldn't be conducted by an organization like PPP, etc. Can you guys think of any other work-arounds? Any other thoughts/suggestion? Cheers.
Imagine a 50 year old who's been religious all his life. Has a wife, kids, family, friends, coworkers/boss, that largely have shared his views, for much, if not all of their lives. What our argument asks of them is not only to look for evidence for his beliefs - a tough intellectual challenge to take on after years/decades of indoctrination, but to accept this totally opposite view in the face of all that social structure. I believe that is great pressure not to believe in the science that invalidates their beliefs. So even though the evidence stands for itself, they will nevertheless find ways to rationalize its inaccuracy.
I think this is massive motivation to cling to their beliefs, and it's one I've seldom, if ever, thought about before the other day. It makes me wonder what other reasons I'm not considering that would pressure them to believe. There may be many.
What I think would be a fantastic atheistic project would be to survey religious people to ask them aside from their belief that it's true, what reasons they believe in religion. Obviously, surveys have inherent dangers with the wording of questions, and the legitimacy of the answers, especially for polemic topics. But I think it would be useful in any case. Hopefully, the survey would produce at least a handful of "secondary" reasons that people have faith, that the atheistic debates don't address. Or maybe hundreds of reasons, which are sorted based on frequency reported or significance or something. Then an atheist think tank could produce a report on how to counter these top 5/10 additional fears. I think these are really the barriers that hold people back, and if you could allay/comfort/address those, they would come tumbling down.
Obviously the survey and the think tank are the processes/institutions I think might be beyond the reach of this forum that I alluded to in the other post. Are there any admins that have connections to such organizations? Or is this purely a conglomeration of generally like-minded individuals? Suppose a survey couldn't be conducted by an organization like PPP, etc. Can you guys think of any other work-arounds? Any other thoughts/suggestion? Cheers.
Religious but open minded about the arguments of atheists? You may have spent your whole life learning about the arguments for religion. May I present to you 10 segmented hours for the case against it?
