My working model of a religious person such as the above is that they assess any argument first and foremost on the basis “will accepting this argument cause me to have to abandon my religious belief?”. If yes, execute “search for least implausible counterargument”.
As such, no rational argument whose conclusion obviously leads to the abandonment of religion will work. However, rational arguments that can be accepted on the spot without obviously threatening religion, and which lead via hard-to-predict emotional channels to the weakening and defeat of that belief might work. It is my suspicion that persuading someone to change their mind on a really important issue almost always works like this.
My working model of a religious person such as the above is that they assess any argument first and foremost on the basis “will accepting this argument cause me to have to abandon my religious belief?”. If yes, execute “search for least implausible counterargument”.
As such, no rational argument whose conclusion obviously leads to the abandonment of religion will work. However, rational arguments that can be accepted on the spot without obviously threatening religion, and which lead via hard-to-predict emotional channels to the weakening and defeat of that belief might work. It is my suspicion that persuading someone to change their mind on a really important issue almost always works like this.