The Threat that Can’t be Beat

Last updated on: October 10, 2012 at 12:26 pm by Leah Libresco

The Threat that Can’t be Beat 2012-10-10T12:26:57-04:00 Leah Libresco

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

In my “Pugilist in Good Faith” post, I explained why I didn’t see a contradiction between aggressively going after other people’s ideas and remaining open to revising my own opinions. After reading it, commenter dbp had a question about whether this balance is possible when you’re doing it in public, and his question deserves a longer response. He wrote:

The point isn’t so much that you’re out to persuade people of a position you’re also (on this blog) publicly subjecting to interrogation. That seems fine to me, which is why I find your answers on those points reasonable. However, there’s another area in which I think you’re doing yourself a disservice, if a completely (OK, maximally) unencumbered re-examination of your atheism is your goal.

Specifically, you’re setting yourself up as a champion or model for the atheist side. (NB, this is my interpretation of the effect of what you’re doing, not my assumption of your explicit goal– I’m not trying to accuse you of being in it for your own glory or anything.) You (admirably) try to establish guidelines for debate and ways to establish tactical advantages in ‘deconversion,’ you remonstrate against atheists whom you are disappointed in, and in general you’re gaining a reputation as a public ‘evangelist’ (if you will) for atheism. That’s why you are asked to guest blog on sites like Daylight Atheism, and why you accept.

All of that’s fine, just as it is for someone on the Christian side to do the same for Christianity. But isn’t it inimical to the goal of honestly and openly examining the foundations of your belief? That project is really, really hard to do well in any case, and gaining a ‘standing’ among others who hold the belief in question risks, it seems to me, encumbering the investigation you have set out to make. In the admiration, camaraderie, and attention you get in such a role, you start to have more at stake than simply the intellectual tenets you hold, and that can work subtly on the mind. Which is to say, I fear you may be shooting yourself in the foot.

Let’s put it this way: I think the marginal danger to my intellectual honesty caused by having this blog is pretty small. I like the internet, and it’s certainly exciting when I see the combox explode with thoughtful comments or when I notice the Google Analytics trendlines make a jump (hi, everyone who came over from the Volohk Conspiracy yesterday!), but the offline pressures on my thinking are a lot stronger than anything you guys can muster.

I was brought up by atheists. My mom is from a long line of secular Jews (who managed to get kicked out of half of the countries in Europe for printing banned books just ahead of the general Jewish purges) and my dad likes to call himself an “alumnus of Catholicism.” And if I decided I was going to convert, I’d break their hearts, along with the hearts of almost every good friend I have who is an atheist (a pretty large percentage).

Unless I became a miraculously good evangelist/apologist, I wouldn’t be able to make a good enough case to all these people that I wasn’t just being stupid. And if there’s any vice I embody, it’s pride. It’d be very hard for me to know I looked gullible or just plain weak. I’ve enjoyed a reputation as someone who keeps her head in a crisis, who manages to put aside emotion concerns and think logically. If I were a convert, I don’t see how they could trust me as a thinker.

So it’s not that your opinions don’t influence the way I think and write — I was really frustrated during my guestblogging experience at Daylight Atheism, since I obviously wasn’t expressing my thoughts about rhetoric persuasively — but it’s easier for me to take a bad response online as a spur to do better or a reminder to reexamine my premises. If I turn out to be wholly wrong about atheism, this blog and my online popularity will be the last thing I worry about.

Previous Post

June 24, 2011

Logistics for Turing Test Challenge

Next Post

June 26, 2011 Picking the Turing Test Questions

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 7 Quick Takes Apologetics Atheism Book Conversion Debate Tactics Debates Epistemology/Philosophy Housekeeping Ideological Turing Test Marriage Morality in Practice Parsing Catholicism Possibly Heretical Radio Reviews/Recommendations Sequence Index Spiritual Practice Uncategorized

Select a Month April 2017 March 2017 January 2017 December 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did God create on the first day?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Land Plants Light Animals