Posted: Jan 02, 2014 5:22 pm
Aern Rakesh wrote:Blackadder wrote:Aern Rakesh wrote:Look, I know a lot of you think a patently obvious intellectual argument is all it takes to get someone to change their beliefs, but it doesn't work that way. At least in most cases. If someone is going to forsake years of belief and practice...and perhaps more importantly in an emotional sense, the beliefs and practices of those closest to them, what they need is empathy and encouragement. Not intellectual snobbery and questioning their motives from the get go.
This guy has already gone through several changes. He's not an entrenched fundamentalist. Back in the RDF days we used to be very supportive of people who were trying to change. What's happened? This part of the forum is open to the public and he could check it out before getting an account. Just saying...
You may disagree Nora but I think this forum is still supportive of those who are interested in changing or at least in trying to genuinely understand the opposing viewpoints to their faith based ideas. It's the preachers and wibblers who get most of the flak so far as I can see, and deservedly so.
I'm not just talking about people who come here 'asking for it', so to speak. Yeah, I have no problem with the volleys thrown at them. But I'm talking about some of the posts about 'religious people' in general, the language used and the sweeping generalisations that are made on a regular basis.
In the case of this guy, I think the deck is already stacked against him feeling welcome here if he would happen to read this thread before joining. I'm just saying that if I were invited I would check the forum out before joining.
I suppose he could pretend to be someone else, but then he might get in trouble with his blog, which is open to the public, and where he seems to want to genuinely chronicle his experience.
I agree with your many posts on this.
If he does come here he needs to be treated with kid gloves. A barrage against him will probably put his back against the wall and he may feel that the other side is more rational.
Not in these words, but saying “Theists are dumb fucks!” won’t win him over. Calm, rational arguments might work, peppered with some empathy for his position.
A friend of mine who is in sales told me that you always agree with the potential customer (regardless of the nonsense they say) and then you show them how they are wrong, all the while having just told them they are right. The second, the very second you tell them they’re wrong: you’ve lost them.
That’s sales, this is theology, but the point still holds.