What is the proper process of intervention for an ideological addict? Will they really just be able to stop using, or will they need a more incremental withdrawal process?
Now I haven’t followed the discussion closely, but it seems like you haven’t explained what you actually advocate. Something like the following seems like the obvious way to offer “incremental withdrawal”:
‘Think of the way your parents and your preacher told you to treat other people. If that still seems right to you when you imagine a world without God, or if you feel sad or frightened at the thought of acting differently, then you don’t have to act differently. Your parents don’t automatically become wrong about everything just because they made one mistake. We all do that from time to time.’
As near as I can tell from the comments I’ve seen, you’d prefer that we promote what I call atheistic Christianity. We could try to redefine the word “God” to mean something that really exists (or nothing at all). This approach may have worked in a lot of countries where non-theism enjoys social respect, and where the dangers of religion seem slightly more obvious. It has failed miserably in the US, to judge by our politics. Indeed, I would expect one large group of US Christians to see atheist theology as a foreign criticism/attack on their community.
Now I haven’t followed the discussion closely, but it seems like you haven’t explained what you actually advocate. Something like the following seems like the obvious way to offer “incremental withdrawal”:
‘Think of the way your parents and your preacher told you to treat other people. If that still seems right to you when you imagine a world without God, or if you feel sad or frightened at the thought of acting differently, then you don’t have to act differently. Your parents don’t automatically become wrong about everything just because they made one mistake. We all do that from time to time.’
As near as I can tell from the comments I’ve seen, you’d prefer that we promote what I call atheistic Christianity. We could try to redefine the word “God” to mean something that really exists (or nothing at all). This approach may have worked in a lot of countries where non-theism enjoys social respect, and where the dangers of religion seem slightly more obvious. It has failed miserably in the US, to judge by our politics. Indeed, I would expect one large group of US Christians to see atheist theology as a foreign criticism/attack on their community.