Reading the works of your opponents

[EquALLity]

I don't think I've ever done this. I did watch 'God's Not Dead' online for pure amusement though, and also 'Heaven is for Real' (my dad wanted to watch it with me after hearing interesting things). I've read articles by people who disagree with me etc., but I don't think any books.

But I just found this book called 'The Shack' in the library basket of free books. It's written by a theologian.

It's actually "the #1 New York Times Bestseller', and there are over three million copies in print. Anyone heard of it?

Here are some of the reviews on the back:

THE SHACK is the most absorbing work of fiction I've read in many years. My wife and I laughed, cried, and repented of our own lack of faith along the way. THE SHACK will leave you craving for the presence of God.

This story reads like a prayer- like the best kind of prayer, filled with sweat and wonder and transparency and surprise. If you read one work of fiction this year, let this be it.

Reading THE SHACK during a very difficult transition in my life, this story has blown the door wide open to my soul.

Then,

Mackenzie Allen Philip's youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later, in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend.

Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack's world forever.

In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant, THE SHACK wrestles with the timeless question: Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain? The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You'll want everyone you know to read this book!

It's probably full of shit, but I'm curious.

[tstone2077]

My 2 cents...

Omitting alternatives does a disservice to critical thinking. In the pursuit of truth, anyone else's views might have something important that may change our views. Being closed to those new views may prevent us from gaining a more accurate model of reality.

That being said, there is a lot of crap out there as well as a regurgitation of the same tired arguments. So, how do you find truth in a sea of reiterated fallacies? No... really... how? My only strategy is to find the oppositions strongest arguments and read up on multiple viewpoints of those arguments. Perhaps that leads to an opposition's book and perhaps not.

Intellectual honesty is a lot of work.

[zeello]

I read no further than the free sample, since I don't want to provide monetary incentive to the incorrect viewpoint. It seems messed up in my mind that interest in a particular subject (e.g. atheism) should elevate competing viewpoints simply for the sake of hearing both sides. We all know what they say about both sides and how it paints other perspectives as equally valid even when they're not.

However I later realized a problem with this logic. By only buying atheist books, you're feeding the atheist book market, in effect making atheism more valid and more "true". In effect we're shaping reality, using our dollars and prejudices, and that's kind of scary when I think about it. I guess there is no answer but to boycott books altogether or maybe to be highly selective about which books you buy. Atheist books only, however. I definitely wouldn't buy any anti atheist books seeing as they're almost unanimously wrong, come from a Christian perspective, or have reactionary tones. (e.g. about how we atheists are too shallow to understand the wonders of the universe. Silly atheists!)

[tstone2077]

By only buying atheist books, you're feeding the atheist book market, in effect making atheism more valid and more "true".

Call me pedantic, but we cannot make anything more "true" by funding one thing vs another (except the truth that it is being more funded). God is no more or less true when people only buy christian books.

But i think I see the point you were trying to make. Financially supporting atheist movement raises awareness and possibly gives more people a more demonstrably accurate model of reality (to which I agree).

I would disagree to not funding opposing viewpoints even if they are wrong. If they have a unique idea (something VERY rare), then fund the propagation of that idea. Let it be scrutinized. Without alternative viewpoints, how can we expect to grow?

Personally, I don't think the problem is in disseminating or supporting alternative viewpoints (even religious). I think our problem is the ability to accurately evaluate the truth value of those viewpoints; essentially our ability to scrutinize in an unbiased, objective way.

Bias is a bitch.