I’ve had something on my mind and I wanted y’all’s opinion.
It seems as though the population divide between liberals and conservatives in the US is widening more and more each year towards liberalism but it is still near the middle. On the other hand, if we look at just atheists; it is 9:1 liberal to conservative.
This is not meant for everybody but wouldn’t our time be more wisely spent deconverting the religious than trying to reason with them on policies when their core beliefs are completely different? Obviously we should be employing both strategies but we should be giving more effort into going into public spaces and challenging their ideas because we know they won’t be initiating the challenging of their beliefs in the first place. Just a thought.
One of the problems with trying to “deconverting” the religious or conservatives (or liberals for that matter) is that the extreme in all cases are arguing through emotions. We, on the other hand, argue through reason and logic. And like Rudyard Kipling’s poem “never the twain shall meet.” (The Ballad of East and West" )
I have learned that simply listening to the arguments of the conservative and liberal extremists as well as the evangelical right-wingers, I can get a better feel for the falsies of their arguments and develop better counter-discussions simply by asking them to explain the inconsistencies of their positions.
A large and complex subject. The first question is why de-convert? Religion is woven into the fabric of our culture. Are we in danger of unraveling that part of our national identity if we pull out the thread of religion? Then what does the culture look like?
If religion could be eliminated where would those in need of the reassurance, inclusion and emotional dependence turn? What would take the place of religion?
Religion provides a certain place of privilege in our society. How would that privilege be maintained?
And - if there are physiological differences, slight though they may be, that predispose the acceptance of the conservative philosophy would not that same predisposition embrace religion?
There is a lot to consider here. Including the fact that other attempts to extinguish religion have not been successful. It does make a good conversation and opportunity for speculation.
I personally think we should just focus on critical thinking. That produces more atheist, but more importantly, it produces more critical thinkers. Which is what we actually want. It doesn't really matter if they believe in a God or other not since. Almost everyone I know, atheist included, had some sacred cow belief. But the better there critical thinking skills they have, the less influence nonsense has in them.
Up against a rock decision must be personal
You hit the nail on the head, the only person that can change that person is themselves. The real problem is religion not the lack of critical thinking.
I think that you might have a point there . Since much of right-wing thought in this country is rooted in religious based dogma , specifically Christian Reconstructionism [rationalwiki.org] , I think that it could be argued that we must first tackle the cultural hegemony [en.m.wikipedia.org] , before we can successfully take on the ruling class .
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