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

[Randall Randall]

On May 2, 2007, at 11:06 PM, spike wrote:
> 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?
>

This is a wonderful post, and if there's still a post
of the week or month or whatever, I nominate this one.

Thanks, Spike!

--
Randall Randall <randall at randallsquared.com>
"This is a fascinating question, right up there with whether rocks
fall because of gravity or being dropped, and whether 3+5=5+3
because addition is commutative or because they both equal 8."
   - Scott Aaronson