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

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phakding
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.

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malux85
The Borg Collective is like a force of nature. You don't feel anger toward a
storm on the horizon. You just avoid it.

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throwawaysky9
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.

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

