Occupy Religion: Don’t Let Religion Occupy You

[skepticscott]

59. You talk as if debate and discussion

are something completely divorced from rational inquiry, when the truth is just the opposite. They are integral parts of it. And as I posted below, things don't by any means have to be measurable or quantifiable to be debated using reason, argument and evidence, and for an accepted consensus to eventually be arrived at. If the debate goes on for long enough, the rhetorical skills of any one person at any one moment become unimportant when measured against the weight of argument.

But if someone tells me that evolution violates the second law of thermodynamics, I'm not going to say "I respect your opinion even though I disagree with it". I'm going to say that that's complete bullshit, and tell them why. Some perspectives simply DON'T merit consideration, especially after they been shown to be bogus more times than can be counted. Telling someone that their claim is ridiculous is not "making it personal". Don't forget too, that this is a public discussion board. Many times I post responses which I know have no hope of convincing the person I'm responding to, but which are intended for people who are reading but not posting

As far as deities, they either have an objective, physical existence, independent of the minds of their believers, or they don't. Either Jesus, existed, died and rose from the grave, or he didn't. Either the wine in Catholic communion turns into real blood or it doesn't. Those are truth claims about the real, physical universe and matters of objective fact. No matter how much it might make you feel better to think so, and to be conciliatory, there are no other options and there is no middle ground between. Regardless of who is right, one side of those disagreements has to be closer to the truth than the other.