I was recently browsing twitter and I saw someone make the all too common statement that atheists need as much faith to believe God doesn't exist as theists have that he does. Of course such a thing bugs me, so I figure I'd engage and started a conversation with her. The conversation seemed to me to be fairly calm but after a quick back and forth she defended herself by saying it was just a tweet and not a big deal, she just had a thought and was throwing it out there. I told her I meant no anger, but tone is hard to express in text, especially with the character limit on twitter. She then said that a ton of atheists insulted her for her original tweet.
This got me thinking about how we atheists interact with the general public. Suppose you see someone make a common argument against atheism, such as the one here. The way I see it, there are two possibilities, first is that they are die hard Christians who hate atheists and are trying to make a point. The second is that they haven't really thought about it much but it seems reasonable to them. Perhaps they are even just repeating something they heard somewhere else.
If we are in the first case, chances are any conversation will get heated pretty quickly. That's fine, I don't like having these ridiculous ideas stated without challenge, and a little yelling isn't necessarily a bad thing when appropriate. However, if we are in the second case perhaps it will be an opportunity to correct a misconception. If they have only heard the theists stupid argument and you explain the counter-argument perhaps they will come away with a new idea to think about.
So how do you know which case you are in? Well, you don't right away, I think the best strategy is to begin by assuming you are in the second case and start off with a friendly conversation. If you are wrong and you are talking to a fundamentalist, they will show their true colors with a hostile comment soon enough and you can respond in kind when it is appropriate. On the other hand if you are talking to someone unfamiliar with the argument you could actually teach them something.
If you instead assume you are talking to a stubborn jackass and start calling them a moron, you might have saved yourself a few minutes if you are correct. However, if you are wrong you have missed an opportunity to spread some good information, and the person will probably walk away thinking that atheists are a bunch of assholes. I know it is easy to get worked up after we talk to some many stubborn theists, but make sure your ire is aimed at the right people.
Seems reasonable to me. I rarely respond to this sort of thing on Twitter, but I should probably do more of it.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't worry about it too much. I've had some good conversations here and there, but most of the time it is just frustrating. When I'm in the right mood it can be fun to get into it with people, but other times I just let those kinds of tweets fly right by.
DeleteI was thinking about making a atheism themed "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster. Haven't thought of a clever gimmick for it yet. Douglas Adams' "Don't Panic" came to mind, but it's been done.
ReplyDeletehmm, nothing comes to mind. I look forward to seeing what you come up with
DeleteWhile its not always the case, I know when I was a Catholic growing up I was really religious but didn't really question any of it. I think that's what kept me in there. I think once you get the proper critical thinking skills, its hard to see how other people can still believe. I think another thing that's been eye opening a lot for me was hearing other perspectives on religion, and stuff stated different ways. One example, someone pointed out to me that if Adam and Eve was a metaphor then were did original sin come from and why did Christ die for it or about God sacrificing himself to himself to forgive his creation (which he knew was going to do what they did.)
ReplyDeleteI tried to find a great quote I saw once attributed to Carl Sagan where he talks about how skeptical people need to remember that religious people aren't dumb, but they probably just haven't grown up with the proper tools to question claims, but was unable to locate it.
I totally agree here. Critical thinking is not something we tend to teach in schools, so many people don't ever really develop the skill. In fact, thinking back, the first class I had that really focused on this is in college. So if you don't learn it at home from your parents, you may never really get the skills. All the more reason to try to have thought provoking conversations with these people. Remember, even if we've heard an argument a million times, you never know who is seeing it for the first time. Might get them thinking.
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