I think concluding the real purpose of apologetics is for the believer fans because they are the ones who read most of it is bad reasoning.
Is the real purpose of a national army so that people can run and participate in training exercises? The armies of so many countries are hardly ever used for what they say they are for.
I have been atheist since I was about 12. I have consumed some apologetics along the way, usually having it recited to me by someone I was talking to or having it highly recommended to me by those people. Curious as to whether I was wrong or not in my atheism I would read some of the apologies. They did not convince me, but it wasn’t a huge miss, I bet they do convince some people who are on the fence.
The best apologists i would expect are the ones who have the best understanding of how the mind falls away from religious belief. The best apologists I would expect are people who have actually fallen away and been sucked back in, or who are always close to being sucked away from belief. The sweet spot for apology should be people who are just barely believing and people who are just barely non-believing. This is qualitatively quite different than declaring apologies as delivered under false pretenses.
I think concluding the real purpose of apologetics is for the believer fans because they are the ones who read most of it is bad reasoning.
Is the real purpose of a national army so that people can run and participate in training exercises? The armies of so many countries are hardly ever used for what they say they are for.
I have been atheist since I was about 12. I have consumed some apologetics along the way, usually having it recited to me by someone I was talking to or having it highly recommended to me by those people. Curious as to whether I was wrong or not in my atheism I would read some of the apologies. They did not convince me, but it wasn’t a huge miss, I bet they do convince some people who are on the fence.
The best apologists i would expect are the ones who have the best understanding of how the mind falls away from religious belief. The best apologists I would expect are people who have actually fallen away and been sucked back in, or who are always close to being sucked away from belief. The sweet spot for apology should be people who are just barely believing and people who are just barely non-believing. This is qualitatively quite different than declaring apologies as delivered under false pretenses.