I saw this comment today on the internet and loved it. How appropriate for the day preceding the holiday in which two billion people all over the world celebrate the virginal birth of a first century demi-god. It is so very good and so very true!
Why is it that no matter how much evidence we present to Christians which debunks their silly superstitions, they always come up with convoluted excuses for holding on to them? Is it because they are stupid? No. The problem is not their intelligence. The problem is this: It is difficult if not impossible to deconvert someone with evidence whose conversion to Christianity was based primarily on their emotions.
The overwhelming majority of Christians believed in the reality of the supernatural tales of Christianity when they were young children. As these children grew up, the alleged reality of these religious superstitions were continually reinforced by the child’s authority figures, social networks, and his or her culture in general—unlike non-religious superstitions such as Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy which were “debunked” by his authority figures and peers when he was a little older.
Does that mean that discussing the evidence against these dangerous and sometimes deadly religious superstitions is a waste of our time? Absolutely not. However, we counter-apologists must keep in mind that our proffering of evidence will rarely change the minds of the heavily indoctrinated. Our hope is that evidence will trigger the critical thinking skills of the questioning and the less-indoctrinated. Our hope is with the younger generations of Christians and other theists. It should not be our goal to make them atheists. It should be our goal to make them THINK. Make them think critically, evaluating the truth claims of their religion with the same critical thinking skills that they use for all other truth claims in their lives.
Let us continue the struggle.
Happy Holidays!
Gary
End of post.
Escaping Christian Fundamentalism 
Difficult, Yes. Impossible, NO! And it’s important to remember this! This wrongness is often expressed as, “It is not possible to reason someone out of a belief that they did not reason themselves into.”
Dawkins and Hitchens didn’t get famous for shouting into the wind, ya know!
It IS possible to reason people out of beliefs they did not reason themselves into and to repeat the ‘fact’ that it isn’t is a misdemeanor, if not a high crime.
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You are correct. It would be better to have said:
It is difficult if not impossible to deconvert most indoctrinated Christians with evidence whose conversion to Christianity was based primarily on their emotions.
I deconverted due to evidence.
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I respect your position. I am just curious about how you don’t make any comments about Islam and their beliefs. Is it because your conviction is not strong enough to take on a religion that instills fear in you if you challenge their beliefs?
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Do you have a website where you attack Islam?
I doubt it.
There is an old saying: People in glass houses should not throw stones.
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This is why it’s important for atheists and other secular folks speak up on a regular basis. Let people know that their friend, neighbor or coworker is a nonbeliever.
This helps make it clear that there are other valid worldviews out there. Right in their backyard. This helps youth know it’s OK to question & challenge the beliefs of their parents. This is the only way to tamp down this Christian Nationalism that’s so prevalent under Trump.
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The goal for all should never be to lead someone to what to think, it should be to lead someone to think independently
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That is not what the post says.
It should be our goal to make them THINK.
I want all people to learn to think critically about ALL issues, including their religious superstitions.
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Kinda what I was trying to reinforce
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Wow. This post had over 1,100 views today.
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Gary, have you noticed that you have gotten a noticeable increase lately in “anonymous” viewers (with no weblink to a personally owned site/blog) commenting on your blog? It is peculiar and a bit entertaining as to WHY they avoid personal ownership for they write here. 😉 Interesting.
I too was deconverted by the evidence, more precisely the LACK OF evidence and the logical, cumulative evidence—found within the 4th-century CE Christian Canonical New Testament—does not add up or stand to reason. What started my deconversion was the eventual gross incompatibility of ‘the global impact and cosmic powers & prophecies’ of THE one Son of God’s birth and first 12-years… suddenly vanishes (from the Gospels) into thin air, never to be seen or heard from by ANYONE—even the mighty Roman Empire, Provincial Consuls, guards, and spies (paid double-agent spies too among the Jews)—for 17-years! AND as if that wasn’t sheer Cosmic luck and flick-off-the-nose to Rome’s stupidity and embarrassment, Jesus did it for those years right under their noses in Galilee!!! Hahahahaha!!! 😄
Anyone who knows in-depth how Rome ruled its conquered lands and outer Provinces (Judea, Palestine) and relentlessly hunted down and captured threatening (kings) dissidents would know IMMEDIATELY how ludicrous this idea/fantasy is utter B.S. There would’ve been no way a boy/teenager with that much hoopla in crowds and power to inspire, energize Judaism’s Messianic salvation from Rome… could’ve escaped Rome’s nets and traps for 17-years! In all of Rome’s 1,000+ years of dominion that NEVER happened even once.
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Therefore, the baby/boy/teenage Jesus was NEVER what the Gospels or New Testament ridiculously proclaimed him to be. Add up all the other bogus, mythological mumbo-jumbo about the failed Jewish Messiah, one can clearly see that the fairy-tale has the common signs of storytelling in that period. Greek Apotheosis was the framework; a blueprint that isn’t even Jewish in origin.
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