On his blog, Hemant (the eBay atheist) just wrote about a radio show on which the guest a) ranted about the opposing viewpoint and b) showed no interest in trying to have a calm reasoned dialog with anyone who holds that viewpoint.
Hemant closed with:
[Here's] why I like Off the Map and this blog. The people who comment publicly and write me privately come from a whole variety of backgrounds, but they want to have these dialogues without resorting to one-way diatribes.
The question is how we get people to listen to this type of conversation instead of the voices on both extremes who are unwilling to admit any weak points at all.
It’s a great question.
I wonder where the problem lies. Is it that people wouldn’t listen? Or is it that radio hosts don’t think people would listen, so they don’t invite people on their shows who would have calm reasoned dialog? Is it that hosts have trouble finding people willing to have calm reasoned dialog?
Must radio shows air rants if they want high ratings?
What do you think?
Posted in A Cacophony of Posts, Ir (Helen) | 6 Comments »I was on vacation last week - I wrote a little about it on CatE. I had lots of opportunity to be outside and enjoy the beauty of our surroundings.
As I did so I remembered an assertion in the Bible you may be familiar with because some Christians tend to use it against atheists. In fact the hosts of Way of the Master tried to use it against Hemant. Here it is (if you want to look it up for yourself, it’s Romans 1:20):
From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God.