I should have paid more attention and been more vocal. Every time those people came to my door telling me how everything was better when “god chose kings and leaders”, I should have had facts to refute them. Hopefully I will be able to in the future.
A few years ago, I lived in a grand old house in a nice bit of California and we’d occasionally get Mormon missionaries knocking on our door. One time, a couple of them caught me while I was off work and relaxing. It was a boiling hot day, they looked like they were suffering, so I invited them in and offered them some herbal iced tea and homemade fig bars (my wife’s a bit of a hippie, what can I say?). We talked a fair bit about religion, but I’m a non-believer, so that could only go so far. I have a policy of not trying to convince people to become an atheist, but if they ask what I believe, I’ll tell them. These young guys were recruited in Provo, suited up and sent off to Sodom-by-the-Bay to have doors slammed in their faces. They were naive and were very polite, nice guys.
To their credit, when I’d be in town after that, if I saw one ride by on his bike, he’d always wave and say hi, despite the fact that I’m an evil infidel.
Pro tip: don’t try that with Jehova’s Witnesses, they’re paranoid, hyper-aggressive and, in my experience, devoid of manners.
I should have paid more attention and been more vocal. Every time those people came to my door telling me how everything was better when “god chose kings and leaders”, I should have had facts to refute them. Hopefully I will be able to in the future.
I don’t think facts would have helped you. This isn’t something they reasoned their way into. You’re not going to reason them out.
Can I make them question their reality?
In my experience, no. But by all means try. Maybe you can plant a seed of doubt that grows.
Be Socratic though. Fewer facts, more questions.
Yes, by utterly and totally defeating them.
If you invite them in and have an honest conversation with them they leave and never come back.
A few years ago, I lived in a grand old house in a nice bit of California and we’d occasionally get Mormon missionaries knocking on our door. One time, a couple of them caught me while I was off work and relaxing. It was a boiling hot day, they looked like they were suffering, so I invited them in and offered them some herbal iced tea and homemade fig bars (my wife’s a bit of a hippie, what can I say?). We talked a fair bit about religion, but I’m a non-believer, so that could only go so far. I have a policy of not trying to convince people to become an atheist, but if they ask what I believe, I’ll tell them. These young guys were recruited in Provo, suited up and sent off to Sodom-by-the-Bay to have doors slammed in their faces. They were naive and were very polite, nice guys.
To their credit, when I’d be in town after that, if I saw one ride by on his bike, he’d always wave and say hi, despite the fact that I’m an evil infidel.
Pro tip: don’t try that with Jehova’s Witnesses, they’re paranoid, hyper-aggressive and, in my experience, devoid of manners.