Thread:User talk:Armondikov/Someone who gets it!

"The "is atheism a religion?" debate, for example, has fuck-all to do with "what is a religion?"" This is a concept that I've found difficult to drive home with many "rationalists" and hard science-types in general. Many seemingly factual "debates" have little to do with facts, per se, but are a proxy for a larger issue. Climate scientists and biologists seem to be especially stuck in this rut. "We'll just give them the facts and they'll have to change their minds, right?" Bzzt, wrong! And then they wonder why they get their asses handed to them in the pseudo-debates that deniers and creationists so love. (BTW, Merchants of Doubt should be required reading for these people.)