Pause and Consider
One of the main problems with arguing against religion is that people get very passionate about the subject. Religious believers have invested a great deal of time and often money into their beliefs and as a result, they are very resistant to reconsidering their opinion on the matter.
Politics is viewed in much the same way but just quite to the same extent. A great example of this is when people wanted to end the war in Iraq, the main criticism from the other side was that if we left without “winning” (whatever that meant) then all those soldiers died for nothing. Therefore, we have to send more soldiers to die because we were as they say in poker, “pot committed.”
In any case, these issues make people very passionate in their arguments and sometimes when this happens people let their passion control the argument. It is one thing to use passion in an argument to make a more compelling case, but when we let our passion run away with us, we lose control of the argument.
Sometimes we need to pause and consider. Sometimes we need to take a step back from the argument, calm down, and consider what the other person is saying. This refocusing will help us understand their point of view and if we still disagree, we can refocus the argument into a better direction using logic and reason.
The real trick is to get the other person to pause and consider too. Especially when dealing with religious believers, having them take a step back and re-consider their position without “fire in their belly” might help to shake them loss from their dogmatic delusions.
Related articles
- God is not great, but Christopher Hitchens was! (examiner.com)
- Doubting Personal Experiences (dangeroustalk.net)
- Formal debates are a win for atheists (examiner.com)
Filed under: Belief, conversation, discussion, Religious Manipulation
