(February 28, 2014 at 4:32 pm)eyemixer Wrote: Valid point, but then I can't in any fairness ask "What would it take for you to no longer believe in {insert god(s)}?" which is my usual quick check at the start of an argument (in the conversational sense) about religion to see if I can just save myself the hassle. They say nothing, no reason to go any further. Also, I ask myself the question to make sure I'm not letting the fact it's not currently reasonable to believe in god(s) turn into a bias and preclude me from accepting evidence that other rational unbiased people might.
Well, there's your problem. You shouldn't be asking them what it would take to convince them. The answer is that if they truly believe, you won't change their mind in one conversation, any more than they'll change yours in one conversation. The reason the conversation is worth having is either to learn what they believe, or else to plant a small seed of doubt that might some day convince them. But trying to convince them all at once, and asking them what it would take to do so, is just ridiculous.
