On Debating Religion (Or Anything Else)

I’ve recently been frequenting the Scientific American website forums (http://www.scientificamerican.com/). Surprisingly (or, rather, unsurprisingly), it’s a den of climate-change deniers, evangelicals, and people who generally disagree with the tone of whatever editor has written an op-ed in this month’s issue. (Let us leave aside the inevitable rant about how forums likely created for people to discuss scientific endeavours leads to discussions on metaphysics and cultural and political conflict.) After several hours of going through page after exasperating page of debate over the nature of God, or something, I decided to write down this list, which I hope will assuage, or at least ameliorate (forgive my arcane language; I’m studying for the GREs) debates of this sort.

1. Understand the purpose of your debate. If it is to convince others, gear your argument toward doing so. In this case, it is your job to convince others of your position, not their job to try to understand yours.

If you post on forums so that you can vent your exasperation, or declare your superiority, please, for the sake of all things morally good, do that on a site that supports your political, gender or religious preferences. In the end, everyone will be happier, and no one will be offended. Once you’ve calmed down and want to try convincing some contrarians, then go back to a neutral website.

My belief is that many people actually want to talk about issues, rather than hurling insults at each other in order to stimulate the pleasure centres of their brains. Call me an idealist...

2. So, you feel up to a debate, then? Okay, here are a few more ground rules. Do not state how sure you are of your opinion, or how righteous you feel, or how immune you are to counterarguments. No one wants to hear about you, they want to hear about your opinions and the reasons you hold them (and not that you’re absolutely convinced by them). If you want to talk about your experiences, start a blog.

3. Do not start, rebuttal, or end an argument by calling anyone (not just the other people on the forum) stupid. This may be obvious, but there are many, many ways to do this. “How can people possibly believe ?” is an obvious one, but so is “isn’t this obvious?”. Again, you are trying to convince others. The onus is on you to perform well, not for them to listen to you. You are nobody until you prove you are somebody.

4. Type in coherent sentences, and use formatting! It is your job to make your argument understandable, not theirs. No, making your argument harder to read will not make it more convincing. This isn’t the fine print on cellphone contracts. I understand that some people may not have English as their first language, and others are computer illiterate. Do the best you can (you might want to apologize if it appears people aren’t getting what you wrote). Native speakers under the age of 25 have no excuse not to capitalize (NO, NOT ALL CAPS) or use periods.

That being said, please do not go after someone because they've mispelled a word. Maybe call them for not capitalizing, but one word? Come on, no one's perfect!

5. Cite evidence, and help others to understand what you’ve presented. Remember, your victory is when the other side concedes the moral, intellectual or philosophical superiority of your position and agrees with you, not when they call you a moron or swear to kill your firstborn. Obviously evidence will be necessary to convince others. But “look it up yourself” when they ask for clarification is not conducive to your victory.

6. Read what others have written carefully, even if it is obviously garbage. To go for four rounds of “but you didn’t answer my point” is fairly pointless, and happens far too often. If you can’t understand what the other person is talking about, ask for clarification on the assumption that you are the one being stupid, not him/her.

7. Respect the fact that they believe, even (especially) if you don’t respect their beliefs. (I’m looking at you, Richard Dawkins!) Yes, God may be a bunch of baloney written onto some books by deluded priests (but very good public speakers, I’m sure) a few centuries ago, but it doesn’t change the fact that the theist you’re debating loves God, and believes God has had a huge part in his/her life. It may actually be true that the person is a better person because of his/her misguided beliefs, and this ought to be addressed from the start. Do you really think calling their raison d’être delusional from the get go (or, alternatively, calling them closed-minded and irrational) will wake them up?

It doesn’t have to be God. Even dealing with racists may work this way. Start by acknowledging that the culture or people the racist cites has done whatever good works s/he adores.

8. Do not exit from a debate by stating how your opposition is too dense to understand your arguments. See #3 above. Chances are you’ll want to return because something else offends you. You might want a good rep so that you’ll convince a few people.

The general trend toward almost all these points is to exude an air of humility when attempting to convince people. I mean, Socrates the legendary debater never bothered to shout (as far as I can remember) “Ah HAH! I win!” when he won, and he never called (or thought) his interlocutor was an idiot. I mean, after all, if s/he’s an idiot, why in the WORLD are you talking to him/her about ANYTHING, other than to excite the pleasure centres of your brain by hurling insults at others?

~Charles

P.S. Okay, I see one reason, which is that something s/he’s doing is hurting you, but even then is it really productive to scream at them? If not, please read #1 again.