Before I say anything, I’d like to say that convincing other people to become atheist is really hard. Really hard.
I have to completely disagree, although in practice this will make no difference.
Convincing other people to become atheist is so easy that you don’t even have to do it. They will do it all by themselves, given one condition. That one condition is that they value knowing what’s real (which includes verification of “How do I know that what I know is true?”) more than they value almost anything else—including fitting comfortably into the social groups they’ve been raised in. If you can get them to place such a high value on truth then you don’t even need to bring up the question of god. At some point they’ll stumble upon it themselves and then they are trapped—they won’t be able to stop until they’ve completely disabused themselves of the notion.
Unfortunately, getting people to care more about knowing what’s real than almost anything else is really hard. Really hard. So in practice, the difficulty of the task hasn’t been altered at all.
I care quite a lot about knowing what’s real, but not more than almost anything else. Yet, I was still able to become atheist—by reading this website, and especially Eliezer’s post Excluding the Supernatural. I was full-blown religious, and becoming atheist was very painful, and still is.
I have to completely disagree, although in practice this will make no difference.
Convincing other people to become atheist is so easy that you don’t even have to do it. They will do it all by themselves, given one condition. That one condition is that they value knowing what’s real (which includes verification of “How do I know that what I know is true?”) more than they value almost anything else—including fitting comfortably into the social groups they’ve been raised in. If you can get them to place such a high value on truth then you don’t even need to bring up the question of god. At some point they’ll stumble upon it themselves and then they are trapped—they won’t be able to stop until they’ve completely disabused themselves of the notion.
Unfortunately, getting people to care more about knowing what’s real than almost anything else is really hard. Really hard. So in practice, the difficulty of the task hasn’t been altered at all.
I care quite a lot about knowing what’s real, but not more than almost anything else. Yet, I was still able to become atheist—by reading this website, and especially Eliezer’s post Excluding the Supernatural. I was full-blown religious, and becoming atheist was very painful, and still is.
Agreed. Though, this seems to be more of a personality trait.
I find that most people I’ve met who seem prone to becoming atheistic already are, or will quickly become so once its sufficiently supported.
People who claim to be agnostic or believe in some divine force seem swayable.
Its a rare few who seem willing to become atheistic, but are full-blown religious.
Granted, I’m trying to figure out how to deal with that, but it seems difficult.