We need to attack the emotional basis first I think. First of all, quite a lot of people just take for granted what those higher up in the hierarchy tell them. They use it as a compass of right, and wrong. And for many, doing wrong is mentally “impossible”. This is before you take into account what religion does to people.
Then there’s the existential terror. Religion outright explains away everything as some divine being’s plan. Do this to be in the right, and you will literally live forever. Do that, and you hurn in hell. They are terrified of a world with no justice, where they will just cease to exist, and everything they did was for nothing. They will cling to even the most miserable of hope.
I suppose you need to offer some hope, catch them in a good mood. “How could god kill an army of 200000 when there were only like 20000 max” rarely works. They will always pull out another excuse, like “there were more people before the flood” or “God is just punishing us for our sins/this is for our own good in the end” type of crap.
You need to figure out if possible WHY they believe in a God in the first place, disarm them emotionaly, let them explain the theology in such a way, that they see the inconsistencies themselves. Ask them “so what is it you really even believe in? What are you betting your whole existance, and other’s on?”.
Ask them if a reasonable person would think like this, do they really want to follow a God who does the things he does [point out specific examples]. Ask them to summon a fire tornado to consume you, why God does not fulfill his promises, if they can really trust a God that does all that, based on only his word alone?
We need to attack the emotional basis first I think. First of all, quite a lot of people just take for granted what those higher up in the hierarchy tell them. They use it as a compass of right, and wrong. And for many, doing wrong is mentally “impossible”. This is before you take into account what religion does to people.
Then there’s the existential terror. Religion outright explains away everything as some divine being’s plan. Do this to be in the right, and you will literally live forever. Do that, and you hurn in hell. They are terrified of a world with no justice, where they will just cease to exist, and everything they did was for nothing. They will cling to even the most miserable of hope.
I suppose you need to offer some hope, catch them in a good mood. “How could god kill an army of 200000 when there were only like 20000 max” rarely works. They will always pull out another excuse, like “there were more people before the flood” or “God is just punishing us for our sins/this is for our own good in the end” type of crap.
You need to figure out if possible WHY they believe in a God in the first place, disarm them emotionaly, let them explain the theology in such a way, that they see the inconsistencies themselves. Ask them “so what is it you really even believe in? What are you betting your whole existance, and other’s on?”.
Ask them if a reasonable person would think like this, do they really want to follow a God who does the things he does [point out specific examples]. Ask them to summon a fire tornado to consume you, why God does not fulfill his promises, if they can really trust a God that does all that, based on only his word alone?
That of an Anectodal book?