SecularFuture

Do you think that it is possible to turn a fundy (religious fundamentalist) into a secularist or a freethinker? If so, what are the steps? I'm having a hard time believing that it is possible.

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lpetrich

A rather inflammatory title -- does one have to KILL them?

SecularFuture

Nah... Not really.

emotional

You don't say... what an Islamic-sounding title that was!

Gutta cavat lapidem, non vi sed saepe cadendo - The drop excavates the stone, not with force but by falling often (Ovid, Ex Ponto)

AquaVita

I edited the title of this thread. It was inappropriate, even in jest.

SecularFuture

Oh come on... I thought it was cute.

SecularFuture

Ahh... It wasn't that bad. I've said WAY worse at other forums.

What does this mean?

Pyrrho

Of course they can be converted. (I will continue this as applying to Christians, but the same kind of reasoning applies to other religions as well.) In fact, it is sometimes easier with fundamentalists than with "liberal" Christians, because many "liberal" Christians do not care about things like consistency.

If you show a fundamentalist the bad things in the Bible, it is more likely to have an effect than if you show such things to "liberal" Christians, who believe in their religion but fail to believe in the foundation of their own religion.

emotional

Even the most closed fundamentalist mind will cave in to a steady diet of enlightenment. It takes tremendous patience and perseverance but it works (unless the fundie runs away).

Queen of Swords

Heck, I used to be a fundamentalist, so I'm living proof that they can be deconverted. Though I have to admit, I thought God somehow used evolution while simultaneously creating life the way Genesis described. Don't ask me how that worked.