How to Convert Me to Your Religion
I want to give some tips to people wanting to convert me from being an atheist to any particular religion. Each one is expanded upon and explained in the longer version below.
- Stop handing out misogynistic or otherwise bigoted material as a way to recruit me
- Say something intelligent about Homer Simpson’s Wager
- Do not bullshit me about Einstein
- Do not use personal religious experiences as proof of your faith
- Come up with some better propaganda regarding evolution
- Don’t use the old “Well, there has to be something”-routine
- If you presume to know the mind of God, be prepared to answer some questions
- Don’t try to convert me to Scientology
- If you talk about love, peace, understanding and the betterment of mankind, have something to back it up with
- Say something positive instead of telling me that I have no morals or no reason to live
- Explain why your particular god is more probable than other gods
44 – An Atheist Temple
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Further Reading
Dog Heads
The excellent British broadcaster BBC 4 recently aired a fascinating program called “The Medieval Mind” which explores the philosophy, theology, and predominate thinking of the dark ages. The first episode deals with knowledge and revealed numerous intriguing insights into how the medieval mind determined epistemological truths. Monks, priests, and other godly people were in possession…
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Matt’s Human Morality
Matt Dillhunty (president of the Atheist Community of Austin, co-host of “Non-Prophets Radio“, and “The Atheist Experience”) recently debated Father Hans Jacobse (an Antiochian Orthodox Priest) at The University of Maryland on 16th November. Full video of the event can be found here (although only 6 of the 9 videos have been posted online as…
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Aunt Matilda’s Cake
In the book “God’s Undertaker: Has Science Buried God?” by John Lennox he puts forward the example of Aunt Matilda’s cake to illustrate the limited nature of science. The scenario has Aunt Matilda baking a cake and number of scientists are asked to describe it. A nutritionists might tell us about the carbohydrates, fats, sugars,…
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The perfect God
I want a god whose ultimate goals which do not necessitate the creation of mysterious suffering and death. I want a god who doesn’t violate causation by causing things to begin to exist from nothing in the absence of time. I want a god who does not give us “free will” then punishes us for…
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Atheism 2.0
“Atheism 2.0” is a 20 minute TED presentation by Alain de Botton in which he proposes a new approach to evangelising atheism. Alain suggests (apparently without evidence) that we have “secularised badly” and we should sift through the rituals, traditions, and behaviours of religion to identify and adopt their efficient mechanisms. “I have come here…
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The Bizarre Bible
Atheists are often told by believers to read the Bible and it will all become clear. Trouble is, many of us have tried that and it doesn’t seem to have helped. Take these verses for example: This does not sound like a great night out to me. “But Rabshakeh said unto them, Hath my master…
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