{"id":3008,"date":"2012-06-22T07:51:13","date_gmt":"2012-06-22T12:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dangeroustalk.net\/?p=3008"},"modified":"2012-06-22T07:51:13","modified_gmt":"2012-06-22T12:51:13","slug":"arguing-with-the-religious-so-you-dont-have-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dangeroustalk.net\/?p=3008","title":{"rendered":"Arguing With The Religious So You Don\u2019t Have To"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I was at a presentation earlier this week and the speaker mentioned that he doesn\u2019t like to argue with religious believers. Interestingly enough, during the question and answer part of his presentation two religious believers attempted to argue with him and one atheist questioned why we should even bother arguing with religious believers at all.<\/p>\n<p>Personally, I think it is worth arguing with religious believers. While religious conversions happen rather suddenly, de-conversions to atheism tend to be a long journey. When I argue with a religious believer, they are expecting to convert me on the spot. They assume that I am arguing for the same goal, but I\u2019m not. I would be pretty surprised if I de-converted someone on the spot. I argue to get them thinking and asking questions. I want them to start their journey or to move their journey along if their journey has already started. I am proud to say that I de-converted quite a few people, but it often took years and I don\u2019t claim all the credit. I merely got the process started.<\/p>\n<p>I understand that not everyone enjoys arguing with religious believers. Personally, I really do enjoy the arguments and discussions. Each religious believer is different and while there are often common threads and cookie cutter questions and answers, every religious believer has their own story.<\/p>\n<p>Despite my enjoyment, I get it. Some atheists would rather not argue with religious believers. They may not like confrontation or see arguments in a negative light. Or perhaps they don\u2019t see the point \u2013 thinking that it is a futile endeavor. Whatever the reason, I\u2019ll argue with the religious so they don\u2019t have to. Just point them my way and absolve yourselves of the situation. Don\u2019t worry; I\u2019ll be gentle\u2026 at first. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n<h6 class=\"zemanta-related-title\" style=\"font-size: 1em;\">Related articles<\/h6>\n<ul class=\"zemanta-article-ul zemanta-article-ul-image\" style=\"margin-left: 0px; display: inline-block; list-style-type: none;\">\n<li class=\"zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li\" style=\"display: inline-block; vertical-align: top; text-align: left; font-size: 12px; width: 80px; height: 240px; margin: 10px 40px 20px 0px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.examiner.com\/atheism-in-national\/atheist-converts-to-christianity-media-s-coverage\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; border: 0px none; display: block; box-shadow: 1px 1px 3px #999999;\" src=\"http:\/\/i.zemanta.com\/83271827_80_80.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><a style=\"display: block; width: 80px; height: 90px; overflow: hidden; text-decoration: none; line-height: 14pt;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.examiner.com\/atheism-in-national\/atheist-converts-to-christianity-media-s-coverage\" target=\"_blank\">Atheist converts to Christianity: Media&#8217;s coverage<\/a>\n<div style=\"clear: both; margin: 10px 0px;\">\n<hr style=\"margin: 0px;\" \/>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"zemanta-article-ul-li-image zemanta-article-ul-li\" style=\"display: inline-block; vertical-align: top; text-align: left; font-size: 12px; width: 80px; height: 240px; margin: 10px 40px 20px 0px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.examiner.com\/article\/atheism-101-where-does-morality-come-from\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; border: 0px none; display: block; box-shadow: 1px 1px 3px #999999;\" src=\"http:\/\/i.zemanta.com\/95542520_80_80.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><a style=\"display: block; width: 80px; height: 90px; overflow: hidden; text-decoration: none; line-height: 14pt;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.examiner.com\/article\/atheism-101-where-does-morality-come-from\" target=\"_blank\">Atheism 101: Where does morality come from?<\/a>\n<div style=\"clear: both; margin: 10px 0px;\">\n<hr style=\"margin: 0px;\" \/>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"zemanta-pixie\" style=\"margin-top: 10px; height: 15px;\"><a class=\"zemanta-pixie-a\" title=\"Enhanced by Zemanta\" href=\"http:\/\/www.zemanta.com\/?px\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"zemanta-pixie-img\" style=\"float: right;\" src=\"http:\/\/img.zemanta.com\/zemified_e.png?x-id=950734af-8db2-49d6-af06-94301ceed523\" alt=\"Enhanced by Zemanta\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"linkwithin_hook\" id=\"http:\/\/www.dangeroustalk.net\/?p=3008\"><\/div><script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 317364;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" \/><\/a><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was at a presentation earlier this week and the speaker mentioned that he doesn\u2019t like to argue with religious believers. Interestingly enough, during the question and answer part of his presentation two religious believers attempted to argue with him and one atheist questioned why we should even bother arguing with religious believers at all. [&hellip;]<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n<script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 317364;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[610,10,241],"tags":[2278,2215,43,2216,1363,2214,1325,1368],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeroustalk.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3008"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeroustalk.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeroustalk.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeroustalk.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeroustalk.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3008"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeroustalk.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3009,"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeroustalk.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3008\/revisions\/3009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeroustalk.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeroustalk.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeroustalk.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}