Episode 29: Socratic Counter-evangelism
Brother Richard sits in as our guest co-host this week as we discuss the virtues of not knowing a god-damn thing. (Richard is brought in as an expert (ooohh, BURN.))
But first: le news.
The US Military has finally done something right, the Catholic Church is once again stealing headlines for wholesale kiddy diddling, another concerned parent has prevented their child from recieving life saving medical treatment for “religious reasons,” some poor sap is looking for a new job because he isn’t a drunk driver, Eli’s forehead explodes over a 12 jillion year old monkey and some clever atheist chap finally figured out how to get in on some of the sweet, sweet money that flows freely from the wallets of the hyper-religious.
Eli and Lamar lead us through a discussion on the merits of counter-evangelism and then we talk about how you go about using the socratic method on door knockers and street preachers and why it works so well. We throw down some handy tips that atheists can use to plant the seed of doubt even if they aren’t a “pro.”
In the show Joe also mentions a video that is really damning to Mormonism. Here is the link.
Brother Richard
His Blog
His current project
Stream this episode!
You were joking about an after-rapture pet care service, but look at this: http://www.postrapturepetcare.com/
Sounds like someone has stolen your idea!
So I heard about this podcast from my “i love knitting” website(ravelry.com). You guys are hilarious. And yes, you have a knitting circle now!
Hi Guys,
Do you have any links to site that detail how to develop Socratic thinking/arguments?
Thanks,
Richard
Sorry for the late response Richard, but to answer your question, I don’t have any links that give a detailed approach to the socratic method. The Wikipedia article on the subject privides a really good overview. Asside from that, I’d just recommend you try your luck with Google and see what comes up. Since the socratic method is also popular as a teaching device you’re bound to get some good results from a search.
Have any of you read Dialogue with a Christian Proselytizer by Todd Allen Gates? Two thirds of the book is a fictional conversation between a Christian and a skeptic sort of along the lines you guys guys were discussing. There were a few points that I wish the skeptic character would have pushed the conversation a little further. But otherwise, I thought it was a good book.