Can Irrational people Be Persuaded with Rationality?

[Full Circle]

You plant the seeds. I used to believe and during those years I would have defended my views to the death. But all along the way small inroads were being made leading to my eventual deconversion. A science class here, an observation of the natural world there, watching and listening to clergy and parents say one thing and do another. The foundations of the indoctrination started to crumble piece by piece, a la apophenia's quote of confucius.

A conversation with a person who at that moment in their lives is irrational to you may not yield immediate results and I think therein lies many of our frustrations with these types of interactions. I have never had a discussion with a believer where they suddenly said to me, "You know, I think you're absolutely right, what was I thinking?"

I had a conversation the other day with a salesman who told me he used to be a monk in the Eastern Orthodox church. He had left the church but throughout our talk he continued to refer to his spiritual father. I explored his beliefs in a cordial manner, challanged him by asking non-judgemental questions and before I left I wrote down a quote from Epicurus for him to read after work and to consider the questions being posed. I have no idea if he did or didn't, but hopefully it made him think. In the end that's all you can do, plant a seed that makes them think.