RE: Do you argue with religious people?
April 17, 2015 at 4:18 pm
(This post was last modified: April 17, 2015 at 4:19 pm by henryp.)
One important (or at least interesting) reason to talk with religious people, is understanding why they are religious. Try to identify the societal and evolutionary tools used to prey on their various biological desires.
I say it's important and/or interesting, because those tools aren't just used in religion. Politics, advertising, society, nature, it's all trying to flip switches to get you (and often as many people as possible) to behave in a certain way. All designed to control our behavior.
With religion, you've already identified the idea as bullshit, so getting an understanding of why someone believes it, and how people got them to believe it, and why they continue believing it is an excellent study of human nature.
Nationalism for example, is another one. They have 5 years pledging allegiance to an inanimate object. You have to stand and take your hat off for the national anthem. Athletes are always applauding the troops. Vets get standing ovations in sports arenas on military appreciation day. I think of all these things, and how it must look to a 5-17 year old watching everybody they care about and look up to standing and applauding the troops and thanking them for their sacrifice...etc...
And then when they turn 18, there's the recruiter. It's diabolical.
That shit is everywhere, in so many facets of our lives. Even if you don't care practically, it's super interesting (to me anyways) just to observe it as a hobby. And the more people you can look at and understand, the easier it is to pick up on this stuff.
I say it's important and/or interesting, because those tools aren't just used in religion. Politics, advertising, society, nature, it's all trying to flip switches to get you (and often as many people as possible) to behave in a certain way. All designed to control our behavior.
With religion, you've already identified the idea as bullshit, so getting an understanding of why someone believes it, and how people got them to believe it, and why they continue believing it is an excellent study of human nature.
Nationalism for example, is another one. They have 5 years pledging allegiance to an inanimate object. You have to stand and take your hat off for the national anthem. Athletes are always applauding the troops. Vets get standing ovations in sports arenas on military appreciation day. I think of all these things, and how it must look to a 5-17 year old watching everybody they care about and look up to standing and applauding the troops and thanking them for their sacrifice...etc...
And then when they turn 18, there's the recruiter. It's diabolical.
That shit is everywhere, in so many facets of our lives. Even if you don't care practically, it's super interesting (to me anyways) just to observe it as a hobby. And the more people you can look at and understand, the easier it is to pick up on this stuff.
