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wingedbeastI've been waiting on this tip, mainly because this tip can hearken back to so many others. Nearly every professional apologist I'm aware of makes the mistakes I've identified... often.
Most of the scripts for how conversations are supposed to go can be traced back to specific apologists.
If your script starts out with asking if it's possible for everything one thinks one knows to be wrong, that's probably traceable to Eric Hovind or Sye Ten Brugencate. If you have a plan in mind whereby you convince someone that they have sinned and, therefor, should become Christians, that's traceable to Ray Comfort's "Way of the Master".
Some common misunderstandings are either traceable to or reinforced by many a professional apologist. If you believe that atheists can't have morality, many an apologist has repeated that same belief. If you believe that Thomas Jefferson intended the 1st Amendment to be a "1-way wall of separation between church and state" that is traceable to David Barton.
Professional apologists will encourage you to apply many other mistakes, such as plying technicalities or differentiation on who counts as a "True Christian" or treat frustration as victory, etc.
Am I saying that professional apologists lack for intellect or honesty? Well... some, yes. Not all, of course.
What all professional apologists have in common, regardless of where they fall on spectra of intellect or personal integrity, is that they are all rewarded by the already-faithful.
Money, of course, is the most obvious way they're rewarded. Whether they sell books, DVDs, speeches, seminars, weekend events, or classes, the primary consumer is already a believer. Sometimes they're trying to learn something about how to convince nonbelievers. Sometimes, they're buying something to hand to nonbelievers.
Even books ostensibly targeted to nonbelievers are sold to believers.
Beyond the money, there's compliments, speaking engagements, social standing, and even political influence.
In business lives and social lives, professional apologists are surrounded by the faithful and, outside of very public debates, rarely have real contact with nonbelievers.
You don't have to be cynically seeking rewards in order to be corrupted by that kind of situation. You don't have to be lacking in intellect in order to avoid challenging a belief in that kind of situation.
It's an invisible bubble around them and it doesn't leave them well prepared to actually convince the unconvinced, because they're so rarely talking to the unconvinced and so rarely in position to be rewarded or punished for their ability to convince the unconvinced. But, they're talking to people like you, who are.
Sometimes skepticism is a good thing. When dealing with the claims and tactics of professional apologists, ply it.
Most of the scripts for how conversations are supposed to go can be traced back to specific apologists.
If your script starts out with asking if it's possible for everything one thinks one knows to be wrong, that's probably traceable to Eric Hovind or Sye Ten Brugencate. If you have a plan in mind whereby you convince someone that they have sinned and, therefor, should become Christians, that's traceable to Ray Comfort's "Way of the Master".
Some common misunderstandings are either traceable to or reinforced by many a professional apologist. If you believe that atheists can't have morality, many an apologist has repeated that same belief. If you believe that Thomas Jefferson intended the 1st Amendment to be a "1-way wall of separation between church and state" that is traceable to David Barton.
Professional apologists will encourage you to apply many other mistakes, such as plying technicalities or differentiation on who counts as a "True Christian" or treat frustration as victory, etc.
Am I saying that professional apologists lack for intellect or honesty? Well... some, yes. Not all, of course.
What all professional apologists have in common, regardless of where they fall on spectra of intellect or personal integrity, is that they are all rewarded by the already-faithful.
Money, of course, is the most obvious way they're rewarded. Whether they sell books, DVDs, speeches, seminars, weekend events, or classes, the primary consumer is already a believer. Sometimes they're trying to learn something about how to convince nonbelievers. Sometimes, they're buying something to hand to nonbelievers.
Even books ostensibly targeted to nonbelievers are sold to believers.
Beyond the money, there's compliments, speaking engagements, social standing, and even political influence.
In business lives and social lives, professional apologists are surrounded by the faithful and, outside of very public debates, rarely have real contact with nonbelievers.
You don't have to be cynically seeking rewards in order to be corrupted by that kind of situation. You don't have to be lacking in intellect in order to avoid challenging a belief in that kind of situation.
It's an invisible bubble around them and it doesn't leave them well prepared to actually convince the unconvinced, because they're so rarely talking to the unconvinced and so rarely in position to be rewarded or punished for their ability to convince the unconvinced. But, they're talking to people like you, who are.
Sometimes skepticism is a good thing. When dealing with the claims and tactics of professional apologists, ply it.
