[ExI] [extropy-chat] Changing Other Poster's Minds

[spike]

> bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Fred C. Moulton
...
> > > On 4/29/07, Lee Corbin <lcorbin at rawbw.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > I had the good fortune while I was a Christian conservative...
...
> 
> As far as I know there has not been a study of the religious background
> of participants on this email list.  However I would not be surprised
> that there would be quite a few from fundamentalist backgrounds.  And I
> think there is a reason for this.
> 
> My hypothesis is that fundamentalist religious movements often have a
> strong emphasis on be doctrinally correct and thus place a high value on
> study of the text of that religion... Fred



Fred these are some very astute insights, thanks.  As a former
fundamentalist christian, now atheist, my view is very close to yours, with
an addition.

In any debate, the participants must find some basic agreement, without
which there can be no meaningful discourse.  In dealing with religious
beliefs, I witness so much meaningless debate because there is disagreement
on a most basic question.  This question is not whether or not the belief is
true, but rather what is the nature of the belief.  The basic question upon
which the participants must agree is this: does it matter whether or not a
belief is true?

Most of us here have a fundamentalist's outlook: of course it matters.  But
to many non-fundamentalist believers, it really does not matter whether or
not a belief is true.  The terms true and false do not really apply to their
religion.  For most, religion is a philosophy.  It would be like asking is
democrat or republican true?  Those terms do not apply, these are
philosophies.  They hold some true and some false notions, with much gray
area.  A philosophy would not be like a science, in which true or false are
applicable and it matters.  Fundamentalists treat religion the same as a
science.

After thinking about this for years, long after realizing that the religion
I knew was not true, I finally realized that it matters to me if my religion
is true.  I love true things.  Religion should be treated as any scientific
theory.  In that sense, altho I am now an atheist, I still have the
fundamentalist's outlook, ja?

spike