Speaking to theists

[ABierman1986]

I have always found that when discussing religion with religious people it is a fool's errand to try and make them change their minds. As has been stated above they are set in their ways, they have deep seated beliefs that I don't think anyone from the outside can remove. I find that if I approach the discussion as a questioner trying to reconcile my concerns with that of the bible. If I present my arguments as discussions I have with myself as bars to my acceptance or belief in God then I have much more success. Of course this is absolutely true; if someone could truly convince me logically that my problems with religion and God are false then I would be willing to re-examine the case, but so far it hasn't come close to happening. What I've found effective about this is it forces the person I'm talking to think about the issues, and be critical of their books as they must be to answer the true questions the bible really presents. It's non-confrontational, and many religious people I've talked to are thrilled for the chance to proselytize to me when in reality the discussion invariable goes silent after a few minutes. This is the most I think we can do, inspire people to think critically of their beliefs.

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BTW @Edward the theist; the discussion of how gravity works and why energy comes in quantums may not be fully understood, but it is certainly much farther along than saying we don't have a clue. Atheists don't argue to put something in place of a creator, the purpose is to believe what is observable and rational and not to give in at difficulties in understanding and ascribe the solution to a supernatural entity. To convince a believer one only needs to convince them to finally use a critical and skeptical mind on their beliefs, this will at the least lead to agnosticism if not atheism. It's convincing them to do this that is the hard part.