Thanks for the well written reply on this subject. I have a little trouble figuring out if my own experience matches this process or not. I have gone over Christian claims in the past, but they were all in the distant past. Do you think it would makes sense to go through it all again, now that I’ve got some more tools for evaluating claims?
I agree with gjm’s advice, but also want to note that if that doesn’t work, you might want to consider the theory that the situation in general is not about Christianity at all, but is a more social/psychological issue. Taking a stand on a controversial issue is risky, high status behavior, and most of us have both instinct and socialization pressuring us not to do it, so it’s not really surprising that you’re having a bit of extra resistance to the idea—if you keep the option of reevaluating the issue open, you’ll experience less dissonance and be more convincing if you end up saying ‘well, I don’t know’ in the future. More importantly, it probably feels like if you do the research and pin it down—and admit that you’ve pinned it down, even to yourself—you might wind up in confrontations over it later.
It might help to specifically consider the fact that even if you do come to a strong conclusion about Christianity and atheism, you can still generally avoid the issue in most social situations. You don’t have to go out and convert people, or even talk about it if you don’t want to in most cases.
When I changed my mind the first time, I didn’t tell anyone but started covering up a lot of behaviours that a Christian wouldn’t accept. If I re-converted, I’d have to tell people.
It’s been a while since this has been relevant enough to me for me to think about, but isn’t it possible to be Christian without e.g. joining a church? Maybe not comfortable, but possible at least.
It’s easily possible and in a way intellectually consistent, but if the truth is as I’m worried it’s going to end up, intellectually consistent in about the same sense that believing one has a heart disease and not doing anything about it is intellectually consistent.
Thank you both, that’s some pretty clear advice. I do think that there are benefits to avoiding the topic in public, but there are very tangible benefits to deciding, finally, for yourself, that one or the other is true.
It also makes it clear to me that there are an awful lot of claims that come along with Christianity. It doesn’t all just follow from god as theorems in mathematics follow from axioms. I guess what I was trying to ask is if there was a case for reevaluating ‘god.’ You needn’t answer, however, as I think I’ve got a handle on this.
Well, the main point is to satisfy whatever bits of your brain think the matter isn’t really settled for you—that you either might or should re-evaluate some of those claims if exposed to them. (Assuming I’m right in guessing that there are some bits of your brain that think that, and that that’s why you feel the way you do.)
So the question is probably what makes sense to you. Maybe you should try to identify one particular Christian claim or argument or piece of alleged evidence, one that triggers those avoidance reactions more than most, give it a good examination, and see (1) what you conclude about it and (2) what effect, if any, this has on your feelings about pro-Christian and anti-Christian arguments generally.
If you do this, you might want to make sure your brain is well informed in advance that coming to a particular conclusion on this point alone doesn’t commit you to any particular position overall. (Which it doesn’t, unless the rest of the evidence seems very finely balanced to you.) Because otherwise some bits of you might be worrying that other bits of you will be biased in how they look at the issue for fear of reaching the “wrong” conclusion.
If you do this, what to do next probably depends on the outcome—both in terms of any ensuing adjustments to your beliefs (Christianity more/less probable than before) and in terms of any effects on your feelings (more/less/different “ugh” feelings when you contemplate Christian propaganda).
Thanks for the well written reply on this subject. I have a little trouble figuring out if my own experience matches this process or not. I have gone over Christian claims in the past, but they were all in the distant past. Do you think it would makes sense to go through it all again, now that I’ve got some more tools for evaluating claims?
I agree with gjm’s advice, but also want to note that if that doesn’t work, you might want to consider the theory that the situation in general is not about Christianity at all, but is a more social/psychological issue. Taking a stand on a controversial issue is risky, high status behavior, and most of us have both instinct and socialization pressuring us not to do it, so it’s not really surprising that you’re having a bit of extra resistance to the idea—if you keep the option of reevaluating the issue open, you’ll experience less dissonance and be more convincing if you end up saying ‘well, I don’t know’ in the future. More importantly, it probably feels like if you do the research and pin it down—and admit that you’ve pinned it down, even to yourself—you might wind up in confrontations over it later.
It might help to specifically consider the fact that even if you do come to a strong conclusion about Christianity and atheism, you can still generally avoid the issue in most social situations. You don’t have to go out and convert people, or even talk about it if you don’t want to in most cases.
When I changed my mind the first time, I didn’t tell anyone but started covering up a lot of behaviours that a Christian wouldn’t accept. If I re-converted, I’d have to tell people.
It’s been a while since this has been relevant enough to me for me to think about, but isn’t it possible to be Christian without e.g. joining a church? Maybe not comfortable, but possible at least.
It’s easily possible and in a way intellectually consistent, but if the truth is as I’m worried it’s going to end up, intellectually consistent in about the same sense that believing one has a heart disease and not doing anything about it is intellectually consistent.
Thank you both, that’s some pretty clear advice. I do think that there are benefits to avoiding the topic in public, but there are very tangible benefits to deciding, finally, for yourself, that one or the other is true.
It also makes it clear to me that there are an awful lot of claims that come along with Christianity. It doesn’t all just follow from god as theorems in mathematics follow from axioms. I guess what I was trying to ask is if there was a case for reevaluating ‘god.’ You needn’t answer, however, as I think I’ve got a handle on this.
Well, the main point is to satisfy whatever bits of your brain think the matter isn’t really settled for you—that you either might or should re-evaluate some of those claims if exposed to them. (Assuming I’m right in guessing that there are some bits of your brain that think that, and that that’s why you feel the way you do.)
So the question is probably what makes sense to you. Maybe you should try to identify one particular Christian claim or argument or piece of alleged evidence, one that triggers those avoidance reactions more than most, give it a good examination, and see (1) what you conclude about it and (2) what effect, if any, this has on your feelings about pro-Christian and anti-Christian arguments generally.
If you do this, you might want to make sure your brain is well informed in advance that coming to a particular conclusion on this point alone doesn’t commit you to any particular position overall. (Which it doesn’t, unless the rest of the evidence seems very finely balanced to you.) Because otherwise some bits of you might be worrying that other bits of you will be biased in how they look at the issue for fear of reaching the “wrong” conclusion.
If you do this, what to do next probably depends on the outcome—both in terms of any ensuing adjustments to your beliefs (Christianity more/less probable than before) and in terms of any effects on your feelings (more/less/different “ugh” feelings when you contemplate Christian propaganda).