Boy Scouts keep trying to convert me

[EvolutionKills]

(08-01-2013 11:49 AM)Heilo Wrote:  

(08-01-2013 11:33 AM)Denicio Wrote:  Another good approach is to quid pro quo with them. For every Hamm video show them a Hitchens or Dawkins video!
ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS end statements with a question! Never make blanket assertions or commentary, they dont care and will wait their turn to talk. By asking questions if forces them to engage in the conversation.
Why are there so many inconsistancies?
Why is Jesus anti family? (look for more content on TTA's bible inconsistancy page). By asking them about stuff they have NO IDEA ABOUT (chances are they have never read the bible) you will reveal things to them.
Is John 3:16 about God murdering his son (had the power to stop it) or is it the "Greatest Suicide Story ever told"?
Or Trinity Talk...how in the hell does 1+1+1=1?? If JC is the son and has been around all along (trinity speak) then JC is equally guilty for the Old Testament atrocities, right? So, JESUS ordered the bears to kill those kids who made fun of Elijas bald head. JESUS killed the unborn and infants in the flood, right? Jesus killed egypts first born on Passover, right? Please mr scout leader, help me understand why all this murder is somehow moral? We'd get 99 to life in jail, but you worship this immoral beast?
Then the biggie..WHY would you want to spend a second...or eternity with such a diabolical murdering madman?
You can always play the "Who's more moral" game too. By using the same lines or argument. Then at the end of the game you can proclaim that YOU are more moral than god! Then its totally up to you to ask them to get on their knees and worship you as a MORAL god! :-)

Personally i'd just get out of that organization. They are proving to be yet another hate fill gang of bigots. Why would you even want to associate with them? You can learn to tie knots on youtube!
D

Hitchens is dead and Dawkins isn't exactly the friendliest, I'd go with Carl Sagan.

Yeah, but Hitchen's is very powerful, he doesn't throw any punches. Darkwin's tends to be more demure, and thus lacks the same bite. But if you wanted another option to these three great choices, might I suggest Sam Harris? He has a knack for condensing a 100,000 word argument into a few paragraphs, and he can also be quite funny. They're all great thinkers, but they all have different takes on it.

Just remember that there is no 'silver bullet' that will kill faith in 1 shot. Faith is built more like a web, a collection of ideas supporting the entire belief structure. Dismantling it requires dismantling it's separate components, often built upon heresay and presupossition. Start dismantling prayer by talking about the many studies that have show it doesn't work. How intercessory prayer is silly in the presence of a omniscient god. How can biblical inerrancy stand up in light of the history of that god and his books? How everyone the world over, in all religions, are convinced they can feel god. Are they all delusional, but not the Christians? What prevents us from labeling the Christians delusional too, in the light of psychology?

Ask enough biting questions, and you'll have a front row seat to Cognitive Dissonance setting in. It's like pouring sand into a car engine, there is a lot of smoke and grinding noises involved, as the engine stutters and may eventually die.