When you meet new people in your life.

[Spirit of Light]

Especially if it is within a religious setting.

Do you find it normal to try to debunk their faith?
Do you find it normal to convince them, they must be wrong due to your own faith/non faith in religion?

Or do you see it as a chance to listen and learn about other peoples faith and belief, because you are genuin interested in them as fellow human beings?

 

[ChristineM]

They are entitled to believe whatever they, want it can often be interesting. However once they begin to dis atheiem or any other personal belief they are fair game.

 

[Spirit of Light]

They are entitled to believe whatever they, want it can often be interesting. However once they begin to dis atheiem or any other personal belief they are fair game.

Why fair game?

Should one attack back automatically?

 

[an anarchist]

Especially if it is within a religious setting.

Do you find it normal to try to debunk their faith?
Do you find it normal to convince them, they must be wrong due to your own faith/non faith in religion?

Or do you see it as a chance to listen and learn about other peoples faith and belief, because you are genuin interested in them as fellow human beings?

When I was in school, I was always trying to convince my friends they were wrong about everything because I'm narcissistic and thought I was right about everything and loved debating and "proving" them wrong.
I'm not like that anymore thankfully, I was a silly youngster back then.

 

[JustGeorge]

When I meet new people, I don't tend to jump immediately to religion.

If I feel its a topic worth breaching, I beat around the bush, and try to figure out what their basic worldview(which includes more than religion) is.

The chances of me trying to 'debunk' them, or convince them of another belief are pretty slim. I can't see why I would do that, really.

 

[Heyo]

Especially if it is within a religious setting.

Do you find it normal to try to debunk their faith?
Do you find it normal to convince them, they must be wrong due to your own faith/non faith in religion?

Or do you see it as a chance to listen and learn about other peoples faith and belief, because you are genuin interested in them as fellow human beings?

When the topic comes up (I usually don't raise it), it is natural (to me) to ask questions especially when their belief is contradictory, either internally or with reality. For me that is trying to understand but many believers feel attacked when their beliefs are questioned.

 

[Spirit of Light]

When the topic comes up (I usually don't raise it), it is natural (to me) to ask questions especially when their belief is contradictory, either internally or with reality. For me that is trying to understand but many believers feel attacked when their beliefs are questioned.

Asking questions are never wrong but the way it is asked may be negative, and then for me at least, i lose interest in answering those questions

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Especially if it is within a religious setting.

Do you find it normal to try to debunk their faith?

No, since I'm likely in a setting based on their faith. Christenings are a topical example.

Do you find it normal to convince them, they must be wrong due to your own faith/non faith in religion?

I mostly spend time explaining aspects of the service to my kids, and/or trying to avoid becoming an active participant.

Or do you see it as a chance to listen and learn about other peoples faith and belief, because you are genuin interested in them as fellow human beings?

I mean...kinda. But I'm often at services where the participants know less about 'their religion' than I do, so whilst informative about human nature, it's not informative about their faith in any deep sense.

It's worth noting I've also been to religious services where I had less knowledge of the religion, or where the participants had deep faith, and I found them more interesting (if no more compelling).

I don't think I've ever made it obvious I'm an atheist, or even really outside the faith at these events, although someone watching me closely might discern it. But that would be creepy on several levels.

 

[ChristineM]

Why fear game?

Should one attack back automatically?

That was "fair" game... Not fear game


Do unto others ring a bell?

 

[ADigitalArtist]

In the event I'm in a religious setting I'm probably not there to actually discuss religion but to work with people on community projects like giving gardens and the like, or for a wedding or funeral that happens to be in a religious building. So I will probably shut down religious conversations aimed in my direction since it's not why I'm there.

I'm generally not interested in debunking anyone's faith because it doesn't work that way and usually just entrenches them further so the debunker can feel some more-reasonable-than-thou catharsis.
But neither am I interested in being preached at. Which is what a lot of religious people in this area are interested in doing.

And, like my sig says, certain fundamentalist beliefs I've given enough time of day for one lifetime. Certain beliefs aren't worth entertaining imo.

 

[Spirit of Light]

That was "fair" game... Not fear game


Do unto others ring a bell?

I corrected my answer
Do unto others as you want them to do to you. Yes and that means to be nice to others (for me)

 

[Aupmanyav]

Especially if it is within a religious setting.
Or do you see it as a chance to listen and learn about other peoples faith and belief, because you are genuin interested in them as fellow human beings?

My beliefs are very different from nearly all other people. I keep them within myself unless they start a discussion - and then may God help them. I have listened to many. There is nothing new that they can come up with.

 

[ChristineM]

I corrected my answer
Do unto others as you want them to do to you. Yes and that means to be nice to others (for me)

Only if they are nice to you (for me)

 

[Spirit of Light]

Only if they are nice to you (for me)

I will reply with respect even if they disrespect me as a person or my belief ( something I was not good at before)

 

[Mock Turtle]

I'm probably like many, in that I leave the religious beliefs of others to them, and only interact with such if and when I see some harm or nonsense being espoused. I rarely had any discussions about religious beliefs with my friends, and felt no need to do so - generally being a sensible lot. If someone felt a need to proselytise then I would perhaps respond unless I saw no chance of any meaningful discussion, and such often happening when quoting from some religious text was regarded as being 'evidence'. Too many on RF tend to fall into this latter category.

 

[ChristineM]

I will reply with respect even if they disrespect me as a person or my belief ( something I was not good at before)

And so many others are not good at it still.

In my view respect must be earned, it is not given freely, i will not willingly be abused. Those who try can expect a response in kind.

 

[SalixIncendium]

Especially if it is within a religious setting.

Do you find it normal to try to debunk their faith?
Do you find it normal to convince them, they must be wrong due to your own faith/non faith in religion?

Or do you see it as a chance to listen and learn about other peoples faith and belief, because you are genuin interested in them as fellow human beings?

The subject of people's faith rarely comes up when I meet them.

If it's a religious setting, I think it's safe to conclude the people I meet there would be associated with the religion sponsoring said setting, so I see no point bringing it up.

 

[Erebus]

Especially if it is within a religious setting.

Do you find it normal to try to debunk their faith?
Do you find it normal to convince them, they must be wrong due to your own faith/non faith in religion?

Or do you see it as a chance to listen and learn about other peoples faith and belief, because you are genuin interested in them as fellow human beings?

Outside of RF, I rarely debate religion. The majority of people I meet are either atheists or roughly fall into the category of spiritual but not religious. Neither group generally feels passionate enough about religion to get into a debate, let alone an argument. When the topic comes up at all, it's generally a friendly discussion.

On RF, I'm much more willing to get into actual debates because... that's kind of the point of some of the subforums here. The nature of debate necessitates pointing out the weaknesses of another's stance but I don't tend to go for the "debunking" route. I wince a little whenever I see somebody say something to the effect of, "Yeah, well prove God exists then!" for example. Instead, I prefer to debate the merits of their God as a concept rather than debate whether or not it actually exists.

 

[Ashoka]

Especially if it is within a religious setting.

Do you find it normal to try to debunk their faith?
Do you find it normal to convince them, they must be wrong due to your own faith/non faith in religion?

Or do you see it as a chance to listen and learn about other peoples faith and belief, because you are genuin interested in them as fellow human beings?

A chance to listen for sure. I like learning about other people's paths and journeys.

 

[Kenny]

Especially if it is within a religious setting.

Do you find it normal to try to debunk their faith?
Do you find it normal to convince them, they must be wrong due to your own faith/non faith in religion?

Or do you see it as a chance to listen and learn about other peoples faith and belief, because you are genuin interested in them as fellow human beings?

When I first meet people, usually faith doesn't come into the conversation as I am usually more interested in them as fellow human beings.

That being said, I never try to "debunk" their faith. When faith comes up, it is usually in a sharing method.