As an Atheist since kindergarten I have refused all sorts of "debate" regarding religous claims.... I am not a believer. I have zero beliefs. When anybody insinuates I am obliged to debate with them I refuse to admit they employ a rational word to discuss..... "god""gott""gawds" are pure gibberish nothing more.... existence is not a debatable word ..... there is only evidence or a vacuum no 3rd possibility.... virgins don't birth alleged baby gawds every midnight December 24-25 never did never will .... I was insulted by this irrational story in 1957 as a running joke against kids wanting toys every solstice and I will return the occasion with insults of my own by saying : " are you pretending geebush geehobah ghostholes are real ? "

Islamics the do not like dogs!!!

Believers repeatedly try to use the bible as evidence, then switch this into their personal experiences, finally to put their god into another dimension where they believe he is safely protected from any attacks you might direct at him. OK, let's get real. How do you know about this other dimensional god or anything else about him?

I'm finding that both admirers and detractors of "HeWho" do a lot of twisting, a good bit of which may be innocently enough.

Among spelunkers there's a rule that when approaching a tight crawl, you send the biggest guy in first so if he gets stuck, somebody can reach him. JP crawls in some pretty tight spaces, and in terms of granular resolution, he might be one of the smallest cavers among us.

Phenomology. Study of the Deadman, The Undertaker

Wrestling fans will laugh at this.

The People that use "I personally feel" or "In my Personal Experience" are usually backed up on their Heels(Especially when it pertains to the "God" question)... it is indeed a Escape tactic to Keep them from Furthering the Conversation. Mainly due to the Threat of their "Beliefs being Challenged" or them possibly "Losing Faith". To me, it's holds the same Merit as "It's just your/my Opinion" or "We're Entitled to our Opinions"... It goes from a Great Convo to a (Sort of) Nihilistic Approach towards the Subject to "Escape with all your limbs" (Metaphorically Speaking).

It could Stop there, then again what could we both have learn in the Conversation? People go into Convos to Win said Conversation, but miss the point of the Discussion itself. You could Challenge me on whatever I Presented as a Claim, but what's important is what I can do to Back it Up. Evidence of the Metaphysical, Mystical Experiences, to the basic "Trying to make sense of the world around us" are ways theists try to Present as their Evidence, but it can only take them so Far in a Conversation.

So, What can one do if the Convo goes Stagnant?

Try and Figure out ways to get them to think about what they have said and Presented...

This is the paradigm of the mega churches. Religion is business and power, and the power to extract what they want from those gullible who unquestionably follow their bluster and lies.
I'd love to engage more, but I'm just in from driving through storm and a shift at work. Thus, I'm rather knackered and I'm on an early shift in the morning.

JP’s “truth” . I thinks it’s pure cognitive dissonance.

All religions remind me of the following: "Collective solipsism is a cruel joke in Orwell’s book 1984. “As O'Brien patiently explains to Winston between torture sessions, Collective Solipsism is the voluntary abdication of empirical and independent thought by a large group of humans.” This falls in line with other government sponsored slogans in the book such as “War is Peace”. “Love is Hate”.

Those who insist on being idiots will continue to be idiots for as long as it pleases them.