Introduction

This article takes a look at why most of the arguments that are made by atheists have little to no effect on the mind of a theist. The fundamental problem with most of these arguments isn't that they lack evidence or logic, it's that they totally ignore the fundamental problem.

If you are a non-believer and you ever find yourself in debates over religion, you need to read this article in full. Then you need to read it again.

We'll finish the discussion by giving you tips on how to overcome the problem, and traps to avoid if you want to get results.

The Shape of a Baseball

Imagine arguing with someone over the shape of a baseball. "It's a sphere," you say.

The other person responds, "No, it's a cube."

You go back and forth several times. "It's a sphere." "No, it's a cube." Exasperated, you try to make your point. "See how there are no corners?"

"Yes."

"See how it is perfectly rounded?" "Yes."

"See how I can roll it across the floor?" "Yes."

You take a deep breath before proceeding... "That makes it, very clearly, a sphere."

The other person blinks, looks you in the eye, and says, "Nope, it's a cube."

If you are an atheist, and you've ever debated a religious person over religious ideas, then you've probably felt like the person arguing for the sphere.

Sometimes this is what it feels like when I debate a religious person. I can show them all the evidence. I can explain all the finer points in detail that show why their beliefs are without merit, illogical, contradictory, or just plain wrong. A lot of the time, they will agree with most or all of my points as I make them (or at least nod their head along the way). It seems like they are getting it! And at the end of the argument – at the point at which I imagine that any sane and rational person must now be ready to throw their belief system out the window and sign on as an atheist – I discover that I haven't changed their beliefs one single iota.

The Problem - Defined

What's going on here?

I have read many arguments on the websites of atheists and various atheist organizations. They usually make very good points, and they are generally backed by good logic. Yet so few religious people are swayed in their beliefs despite mountains of evidence to the contrary, and a complete lack of evidence to support their beliefs. For years I wondered, why is that?

These people cannot simply be dismissed as "too stupid". This is evidenced by the fact that there are very successful, highly intelligent people who still hold religious beliefs. Nor can they simply be dismissed as "crazy". Any psychosis that severe would spill over into other aspects of their lives, rendering them incapable of functioning normally.

Then eventually one day the root of the problem dawned on me, and everything became so much clearer. Trying to convince a person to drop their religious beliefs is similar in many ways to asking them to voluntarily cut off their own legs. If you are going to convince someone to take such a drastic action, the first thing you must do is provide them with alternatives that will allow them to continue to function. You must provide crutches, a wheel chair, special access methods to buildings, special vehicles, etc. You can't simply cut off a person's legs and then say to them, "OK, now get moving." Attempting to do so demonstrates wholly unrealistic expectations; and moreover, it is simply cruel.

Understand the Foundation

Religious beliefs form much of the foundation of the typical theist's world view. Just as a building depends on its foundation to hold it up, the mind of a lifelong religionist has become dependent on religious beliefs to hold it up and to function. If those beliefs were just instantly removed, nothing else in the brain would make sense. They are completely intertwined... like a ball of Christmas tree lights.

The human brain has defense mechanisms that have been honed over the course of millions of years of evolution. These defense mechanisms prevent it from voluntarily letting go of something upon which it is utterly dependent. If you are going to take away religion, you must first demonstrate both a willingness and an ability to provide a suitable alternative foundation. The good news is that one exists, and it is far superior to the base that is currently provided to them from religion. The bad news is, getting the mind to let go of one system in favor of another is not a simple task.

Despite how much we would all like to, you can't just come right out and say, "The Bible is an incredible collection of falsehoods, Jesus may never have existed, and religion is doing more harm to you than good." Even when you provide the evidence to back up those claims, it doesn't matter, because the brain's defense mechanisms have already taken over. The brain, in effect, says, "Hey wait a minute! You're trying to take away something I really need. I can't allow that!" In other words, by making these arguments up front, you have already short-circuited the processes in the brain that are responsible for rational, logical thought, in favor of the mechanisms that are designed for self-preservation. Self-preservation is a much lower-level response, and it pre-dates rational thought by millions of years of evolution. Self-preservation will always win out over rational thought if given the chance.

The problem is compounded by the fact that people have been told that their current, religious belief system is truthful, complete, and absolutely infallible. When you attempt to give them the atheistic system, you're going to tell them that it is not complete, it doesn't explain every last thing (and it probably never will), and that there are relatively few things of which we can achieve absolute certainty. On the surface, that would appear to be a pretty tough sale to make. How are you going to get anyone to give up their "perfect" belief system for one that readily admits it is not?

The answer lies in taking it slowly, starting from the very lowest level, and taking it one very deliberate step at a time. You must proceed in as non-threatening a manner as possible. If you're going to replace the foundation on a house, you can't just rip the old one out, because the rest of the house will crumble on top of it. You have to replace the foundation one piece at a time, making sure the house is fully supported each step of the way. This is no different.

Levels of Religious Belief

To be sure, a few people can and will be won over based solely on the cold hard facts. But these are people who were already having doubts on their own, and were already keeping their self-preservation mechanism in check all on their own. Their self-preservation mechanism had been given enough information to turn the tables around and say, "Wait a minute. It's possible that this thing that I'm clinging to isn't really so good for me after all. I better let the rest of the brain think about it."

The real problem comes when you try to get through to the more devout or fundamentalist types who have yet to allow any doubts to even enter their consciousness. So we need to understand that there are three basic levels of religious belief. (Obviously this oversimplifies things quite a bit – there are countless "shades of gray" in between the levels – but it illustrates the situation well enough for the purposes of this discussion.)

• Level 1 - Devout: The devout individual has no doubt that their religion is correct. "I believe everything I've ever been told, and I'm not going to question it."
• Level 2 - Religious but partially agnostic: This individual is having some doubts. "It doesn't seem like everything is quite right with everything I've been told, but I can't quite put my finger on it. I'm going to stick with it for now."
• Level 3 - Atheist: No doubt that religion is pure speculation, myths and superstition. "I found the courage to question the very roots of my religious belief system, and found it to be incorrect. I have replaced it with a better one."

Getting someone from Level 2 to Level 3 is relatively easy. That's when you can pull out the mountain of evidence and expect to see results. But getting a person who is at Level 1 to proceed to Level 2 is the hard part. How do you get around the basic self-preservation instinct to allow rational thought to get through?

Start Building a New Foundation

People at Level 1 have convinced themselves of the "truth", and cannot even conceive of questioning it, much less disbelieving it. You have to start at the beginning.

There are certain basic building blocks – pieces of the foundation – that need to be replaced before anything else can take place.

If a person does not understand these simple yet essential bits of information, every other argument you ever make will be like throwing light bulbs at a brick wall. They'll shatter on impact and have no effect.

Morals and Ethics

Every devoutly religious person I've ever met is utterly convinced that "no god" means "no morals". They've been taught this since birth; they hear it every week in church. They are deathly afraid of this, in fact. They think that removing religious belief will result in anarchy, and we'll all be murderers and rapists. That is why it is vitally important to get them to understand the concept of how and why there are still morals in the absence of religious beliefs.

Eternal Life

This one is a tougher task. They are counting on living forever; they've been promised a life of eternal bliss after this one ends. If you've been an atheist for a long time, this sounds like a really silly and childish concept. And it is. But you can't come out and say that, lest you unloose the self-preservation mechanisms spoken of earlier. At this point, you simply need to make them understand what atheists think happens after death, and how we view the soul. They don't have to agree with it, and you don't want to try to make them! They just have to understand that there are alternative viewpoints.

Meaning in Life

This is tied closely to the previous one. To most religious people, the meaning of life is to successfully reach the end so that you can get your promised gift of eternal life. Everything else in life is secondary (at best). And here is where the atheist viewpoint is so vastly superior, because our lives can be so much more meaningful. But they aren't going to see it that way at first... or for a long time after that. All you need to do is explain to them clearly how atheists view the meaning of life. Again, they don't have to agree with it; they just have to understand that there are alternative viewpoints, and that there are many people like us who live very happy and fulfilling lives without the promise of eternal life.

Logical Foundation

To show them the way to a life of reason, you must start with the basic building blocks of logic. You have to first demonstrate what rational thought is, and demonstrate how one can safely apply it to religion at the most basic level. Every human is capable of rational thought on some level. But you must be careful. Those self-preservation mechanisms are lurking just under the surface, waiting to spring into action. Think of them like the motion sensors of a security system guarding a building. If they detect the slightest hint of danger, they will set off all sorts of alarms, and they will close and lock all the doors. So you must move slowly enough not to trigger those alarms.

And how do you do this? The first rule: They cannot be required to admit to anything. You don't come right out and assert that what they believe is wrong. It is much too early to show evidence, because they haven't yet learned to ask the question. You must show them ways to ask questions, and ways to consider possibilities. Remember that Level 2 is characterized as "having some doubts". You can only have doubts if you are capable of asking questions. Level 1, "blind faith", is the complete absence of any pattern of questioning. The first step must therefore be to establish those patterns. Brain and thought patterns do not happen overnight. Children don't learn about the existence of multiplication tables one day, and have them completely memorized the next. It takes time. The pattern must be reinforced, again and again, until it becomes habit.

As these patterns become established, the progression to Level 2 will follow naturally. It will take longer with some individuals than with others, and one thing of which you can be sure is that it will require a great deal of patience on your part. Don't mistake the onset of these new thought patterns as arrival at Level 2. If you jump ahead too soon, you'll set off those motion sensors again, and have to go backwards before continuing forward.

Bringing It All Together

Many of the essays on this site are designed with these concepts in mind. Make them part of your basic repertoire! Remember that we're not trying to get people to change their beliefs; we're just trying to get them to understand what we believe, and to learn to think critically about their religion. We simply want to get people from Level 1 to Level 2. We simply want them to have the tools, and the courage, to ask the questions. If they are courageous enough to take this step, there is plenty of information available from other sources to cement them in Level 2.

Perhaps it will ultimately take them all the way to Level 3. But even if they stop at Level 2 – that is, they continue to hold religious beliefs – we have still succeeded. The Level 2 person tends to be far more tolerant of others, and is willing to consider alternate views openly and honestly. These people are willing to think for themselves. And this is all that we can really ask of anyone.