RE: Should one approach dogmatists in the pulic space?
April 5, 2015 at 6:40 pm
(This post was last modified: April 5, 2015 at 6:42 pm by ReptilianPeon.)
Something I forgot to mention is: The sorts of people that are out on the streets are usually people that are going to be harder to convince. The are likely hardline believers who, no matter what a person says, will continue to believe regardless. If they are out on the streets it means that they are probably desperate for brownie points, which entails more conviction than most.
They may even have an audience to please (because many have a YouTube channel or Facebook page) or books to sell. If they do make recordings of conversations then it's obvious they won't want to post conversations with a person who refutes them. Therefore, the counterarguments may not reach the people who need to hear them the most: the followers of the street preacher. The person's followers may be giving to donations to this person so, of course, they don't want appear stupid in front of the camera because they will lose income.
With that in mind, it makes me think: Well, what's the point? They won't be convinced by me. I know it sounds defeatist but there are plenty of people, such as William Lane-Craig, who no matter what is said/presented to them, will continue to believe regardless.
Inevitably, there will be some sincere people out. However, given that most street preachers receive special training from people they regard as demigods (e.g. Zakir Naik and Hamza Tzortsis) I don't think they will be willing to give counterarguments the attention they deserve because they are happy to stick with the misrepresentations of arguments and misrepresentations things people have said provided by their so-called 'scholars'.
They may even have an audience to please (because many have a YouTube channel or Facebook page) or books to sell. If they do make recordings of conversations then it's obvious they won't want to post conversations with a person who refutes them. Therefore, the counterarguments may not reach the people who need to hear them the most: the followers of the street preacher. The person's followers may be giving to donations to this person so, of course, they don't want appear stupid in front of the camera because they will lose income.
With that in mind, it makes me think: Well, what's the point? They won't be convinced by me. I know it sounds defeatist but there are plenty of people, such as William Lane-Craig, who no matter what is said/presented to them, will continue to believe regardless.
Inevitably, there will be some sincere people out. However, given that most street preachers receive special training from people they regard as demigods (e.g. Zakir Naik and Hamza Tzortsis) I don't think they will be willing to give counterarguments the attention they deserve because they are happy to stick with the misrepresentations of arguments and misrepresentations things people have said provided by their so-called 'scholars'.
