You are arguing "reason and empirical evidence" against "faith and childhood imprinting". Of course, you'll lose everytime!!
A better line of attack is to argue the following:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Annoying infidel: What's your religion?
Religious zombie: I'm a Christian of course. Hallelujah!
Annoying infidel: Are you of any particular denomination?
Religious zombie: Thank Jesus, I'm a Pentecostalist.
Annoying infidel: What's your parent's religion?
Religious zombie: They're Pentecostalists too. God be praised!
Annoying infidel: Do you think you became a Pentecostalist because of your folks.
Religious zombie: Beyond a doubt. Praise Jesus!
Annoying infidel: You were lucky to be born into a Pentecostalist family. Very few families in the world are of that particular faith.
Religious zombie: That's true but with the Lord's help we'll change that!
Annoying infidel: Do you think if you were born into a Buddhist family that you would have been a devout Buddhist?
Religious zombie: Well... no... Buddhists are pagan and have not seen the Light of the Lord. I'm confident that Jesus would have ultimately saved me if I had been born a Buddhist.
Annoying infidel: But what about your parents? Jesus would not have saved your parents.
Religious zombie: Now wait a minute! My parents have Seen the Light and know Jesus. This is simply hypothetical nonsense.
Annoying infidel: Based upon the "World Christian Encyclopedia" only 33% of the world's population is Christian. The UK Christian Handbook believes the percentage is 28.3%. You and your folks had roughly a 1 in 3 chance of being born Christian. You think you were lucky to be born Christian but about two thirds of the world's population would argue that you were unlucky not to be born Buddhist, Jewish, HIndu, Moslem or whatever. Why do you think you're right and they're wrong?
Religious zombie: Because the Lord speaks to me! I know I'm right because I can feel Jesus within me!
Annoying infidel: That Buddhist parent who could have been your father feels the love and enlightment of the Buddha within him. His faith is just as strong as yours (maybe even stronger). Why do you reject the validity of his faith?
[It gets cruel after this but you can see where it'll end up]
Gary
Off Topic » in reply to Interesting quote on evolution.
You are arguing "reason and empirical evidence" against "faith and childhood imprinting"
