1 / 27

How Atheists Can Be Effective Evangelists A guide to public rabble-rousing

How Atheists Can Be Effective Evangelists A guide to public rabble-rousing. Outline. Why bother evangelizing? When to speak up and when to shut up Getting informed How to make a logical argument Who's your audience? Promote your opinions. Why bother evangelizing?. Because it's fun!

rudolf
Download Presentation

How Atheists Can Be Effective Evangelists A guide to public rabble-rousing

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. How Atheists Can BeEffective EvangelistsA guide to public rabble-rousing

  2. How atheists can be effective evangelists Outline • Why bother evangelizing? • When to speak up and when to shut up • Getting informed • How to make a logical argument • Who's your audience? • Promote your opinions

  3. How atheists can be effective evangelists Why bother evangelizing? • Because it's fun! • Because it makes you smarter • Because it lets your voice be heard

  4. How atheists can be effective evangelists Letters from high school • "It is a common misconception that atheists are immoral people. We are glad that you could show our class that. We liked how you explained that morality can come from human nature not just the supposed word of God." • "Even though I am a Christian, I was glad that you accepted everyone's beliefs and you explained your view on sensitive subjects like abortion and homosexuality. Overall I believe that your presentation, though not as flashy as the others, was the best one our Humanities classes had visit them. • "Dear Dr. Glasser,You have changed my life for the best. I will always look at religion and life in different ways."

  5. How atheists can be effective evangelists What happens when you don't bother • Silence is treated as consent •  Religious people get to define what atheism means • (Tip: They don't get it right)‏

  6. How atheists can be effective evangelists How theists hope you'll perceive atheists... • “I used to be a devout atheist and that sounds a little strange but I was committed to my belief that God didn't exist. ... I've since learned that when you really look at the evidence, the truth is, it takes more faith to be an atheist than it does to believe in God.” - Kirk Cameron • “I suppose the reason we leaped at The Origin of Species was because the idea of God interfered with our sexual mores.” - D. James Kennedy, misquoting Sir Julian Huxley

  7. How atheists can be effective evangelists Do we want to create more atheists? • Hell yes! • But ultimately, this is about two things: • Spreading memes, and • Pushing people gradually in our direction

  8. How atheists can be effective evangelists • Why bother evangelizing? • When to speak up and when to shut up • Getting informed • How to make a logical argument • Who's your audience? • Promote your opinions

  9. How atheists can be effective evangelists When to speak up and when to shut up

  10. How atheists can be effective evangelists Don't be a jerk • Atheists don't go door to door telling people about atheism • Why?  Because people who do that for religion are jerks • There are, however, lots of opportunities where it comes up in every day conversation • Remember, nobody is saying that you should act in such a way as to get fired, arrested, or beaten up

  11. How atheists can be effective evangelists On the other hand, don't be intimidated • “Atheist” didn't become a dirty word by itself. Neither did “secular.” • You're not being a jerk if you respond to an argument that someone else started. • Learn to enjoy conflict.

  12. How atheists can be effective evangelists • Why bother evangelizing? • When to speak up and when to shut up • Getting informed • How to make a logical argument • Who's your audience? • Promote your opinions

  13. How atheists can be effective evangelists Getting informed • The way to be informed in a debate is to know everything. • Since that's not practical, you should count on reading a lot. • Even more importantly, you need practice

  14. How atheists can be effective evangelists How to practice • Basically, get out there and argue with people • Either you'll win or you'll lose: • If you win, you gain confidence • If you lose, you learn a weakness, and correct it next time • Use the resources you have • Books • Wikipedia • The rest of the internet • Other atheists on other sites • Christians (learn what they think from the source)‏

  15. How atheists can be effective evangelists Lessons learned from gaming

  16. How atheists can be effective evangelists Playing To Win • "Playing to Win," by David Sirlinhttp://www.sirlin.net/ptw • Competition makes you stronger • When you get beaten, learn from your opponent • Don't be a "scrub" • Example: Appeals to emotion are used because they work! • Always play offense

  17. How atheists can be effective evangelists • Why bother evangelizing? • When to speak up and when to shut up • Getting informed • How to make a logical argument • Who's your audience? • Promote your opinions

  18. How atheists can be effective evangelists How to make a logical argument "Ah, Is this the right room      for an argument?"  .....     "I've told you once." "No you haven't."        .....     "Yes I have."

  19. How atheists can be effective evangelists How to make a logical argument • Premise • Inference • Conclusion • Any step of this process could go wrong, so it wouldn't hurt to brush up on logical fallacies

  20. How atheists can be effective evangelists Common fallacies • Hasty generalization • Post hoc ergo propter hoc • Appeal to authority • Ad hominem • Appeal to emotion

  21. How atheists can be effective evangelists To repeat: always play offense • Don't follow the chat-o-matic script. (Yes it's real.)‏ • Identify your points of disagreement early • Never let them hear an “expected” answer • Losing makes you stronger

  22. How atheists can be effective evangelists Is it okay to use appeals to emotion? • People learn things through a combination of reason and emotion. • While we ridicule Christians for overusing emotional arguments, they're used partly because they work • Again, don't be a scrub: use all the tools at your disposal when necessary

  23. How atheists can be effective evangelists • Why bother evangelizing? • When to speak up and when to shut up • Getting informed • How to make a logical argument • Who's your audience? • Promote your opinions

  24. How atheists can be effective evangelists Who's your audience? • If you don't have an audience then WHY ARE YOU ARGUING??? • There are several possibilities for who you are talking to: • The theist, to bring them closer to your side • An audience, to turn them against the theist • Yourself, to learn whether your arguments are any good • Remember that if you no longer have an audience, nobody is forcing you to keep talking

  25. How atheists can be effective evangelists • Why bother evangelizing? • When to speak up and when to shut up • Getting informed • How to make a logical argument • Who's your audience? • Promote your opinions

  26. How atheists can be effective evangelists Promote your opinions • Start a blog – it's easy and free • Argue on message boards and usenet – you get practice AND friends • Don't be afraid to get into a discussion if it comes up

  27. How atheists can be effective evangelists In conclusion... • Don't be embarrassed by what you think or the label you carry • Memes are self-replicators, like viruses • Intelligent responses can replicate too – they're antibodies

More Related