If you could only take 10 words to a desert island to talk about religon….

Last updated on: January 14, 2012 at 10:31 am by Leah Libresco

If you could only take 10 words to a desert island to talk about religon…. 2012-01-14T10:31:58-05:00 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.

…which ones would you pick?

This is not a hypothetical question. I got into a conversation with religion with my ASL tutor (she’s running a Christian ministry for the Deaf in DC) and I had to do a lot of fingerspelling to explain why I don’t believe in any gods. My teacher suggested that I make a list of words I really need, and she’ll teach them to me next week and we’ll continue the conversation.

What words/concepts would you suggest I put on the list? Some of the ones I picked up this week: evidence, hypothesis, believe, god, faith, explain, tweak. Still looking for ‘contingent,’ ‘morality,’ and some others that my teacher is already planning to track down.

Having to work within my limited ASL vocabulary was a pretty good exercise in trying to explain my atheism simply and briefly. Here’s the best distillation I managed to sign:

A hypothesis can’t just name the thing I don’t understand. It has to teach me something new and true. So when I don’t know something, I just say I don’t know.

I also managed to sign “Beliefs need to pay rent” but that came at the end of summarizing that Yudkowsky essay, which was hard. What words do I need to put on my religious argument cheat guide?

P.S. In case anyone is interested, the ASL word for ‘Christian’ is a compound of the sign for ‘Jesus‘ followed by the ‘agent affix.’ She doesn’t know a sign for ‘atheist’ and I didn’t find one in ASLpro’s religious dictionary, either.

Debate Tactics

Epistemology/Philosophy

Previous Post

January 13, 2012

7 Quick Takes (1/13/12)

Next Post

January 15, 2012 Feser's The Last Superstition [Index Post]

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 does Proverbs say about a soft answer?

Select your answer to see how you score.

It brings wealth It starts a fight It is useless It turns away wrath