Ask HN: Atheists of hackernews how do you deal with zealouts. | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Atheists of hackernews how do you deal with zealouts.

5 pointssmithmayowa5 comments

How should I deal with extremely religious people and their inability and lack of interest in reasoning logically on specific issues, particularly when I am based in a developing country where the average person is extremely religious to the point of insanity, sometimes I just get tired of it all.

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You don't. They have a right to their zealotry as you have a right to your beliefs. I also don't get why you want to reason with crazy? You must be very young and ideological or enjoy arguments. As you get older you realise the best way forward is to leave people to their beliefs as long as they don't impede yours. If they _are_ impeding your beliefs then you have a problem -- either avoid the conflict or stand your ground -- it has to be done on a case-by-case basis though, there's no blanket answer.

If you really care about changing their views, then you would need extraordinary amount of patience and an arsenal of different tactics. You are fighting against years long indoctrination. Much of it from the formative years and much of it from people they trust and hold dear, like parents and grandparents. If you are expecting to make a five minute argument to change someone's deep seated ideology, you are mistaken. Regardless of how logical and factually accurate you might think you are.

Depending on your social circle, you might come across a few people who are really open minded and with your arguments might be able to plant seeds of change. That's probably all the power you really have.

The Borg Collective is like a force of nature. You don't feel anger toward a storm on the horizon. You just avoid it.

Give up trying to argue with them. Instead, try to make a difference by making blog posts, videos, podcasts, etc. about atheism. That way you feel you're doing your part to improve the world, and you avoid the conflict and drama of pointless debates.

I was just thinking about doing something like this, and now that you have mentioned it I will definitely try this out.

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