From the bit about feeling like morality ‘loved’ her, she seems to find the prospect that a deity exists to be a good thing—whether or not it’s true, she seems to find the belief more attractive than I think it should be given the evidence.
It might be worth explaining that it would be really cruel for an extremely powerful being to just stand around and watch evolution happen. Or, say, either of the World Wars. So, if somehow we did find out that a deity existed, we would have very strong evidence that it was unfriendly, not to mention unFriendly.
If the above examples don’t have an emotional impact, smaller-scale ones might work, such as cruel things that one’s seen on the news or some such. Or, if personal experiences are relevant, those might be effective too.
Of course, this doesn’t actually address the proposition ‘does-the-Catholic-god-exist’, but it helps to emotionally frame it more accurately. As far as I know, the really good arguments for atheism tend to be kinda abstract and mathy, and she’s likely not to be receptive to, say, wielding Occam’s Razor correctly while she’s still in love with the idea that a friendly god exists.
From the bit about feeling like morality ‘loved’ her, she seems to find the prospect that a deity exists to be a good thing—whether or not it’s true, she seems to find the belief more attractive than I think it should be given the evidence.
It might be worth explaining that it would be really cruel for an extremely powerful being to just stand around and watch evolution happen. Or, say, either of the World Wars. So, if somehow we did find out that a deity existed, we would have very strong evidence that it was unfriendly, not to mention unFriendly.
If the above examples don’t have an emotional impact, smaller-scale ones might work, such as cruel things that one’s seen on the news or some such. Or, if personal experiences are relevant, those might be effective too.
Of course, this doesn’t actually address the proposition ‘does-the-Catholic-god-exist’, but it helps to emotionally frame it more accurately. As far as I know, the really good arguments for atheism tend to be kinda abstract and mathy, and she’s likely not to be receptive to, say, wielding Occam’s Razor correctly while she’s still in love with the idea that a friendly god exists.
I expect that, as an atheist blogger, she will have encountered these arguments before.