Nanani comments on The ideas you're not ready to post - Less Wrong
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Yet another post from me about theism?
This time, pushing for a more clearly articulated position. Yes, I realize that I am not endearing myself by continuing this line of debate. However, I have good reasons for pursuing.
I really like LW and the idea of a place where objective, unbiased truth is The Way. Since I idealistically believe in Aumann’s Agreement theorem, I think that we are only a small number of debates away from agreement.
To the extent to which LW aligns itself with a particular point of view, it must be able to defend that view. I don’t want LW to be wrong, and am willing to be a nuisance to make sure.
If defending atheism is not a first priority, can we continue using religion as a convenient example of irrationality, even as the enemy of rationality?
There is a definite sense that theism is not worth debating, that the case is "open-and-shut". If so, it should be straight-forward to draft a master argument. (Five separate posts of analogies is not strong evidence in my Bayesian calculation that the case is open-and-shut.)
A clear and definitive argument against theism would make it possible for theists (and yourselves, as devil's advocates) to debate specific points that are not covered adequately in the argument. (If you are about to downvote me on this comment, think about how important it would be to permit debate on an ideology that is important to this group. Right now it is difficult to debate whether religion is rational because there is no central argument to argue with.)
Relative to the ‘typical view’, atheism is radical. How does a religious person visiting this site become convinced that you’re not just a rationality site with a high proportion of atheists?
Something about this phrase bothers me. I think you may be confused as to what is meant by The Way. It isn't about any specific truth, much less Truth. It is about rationality, ways to get at the truth and update when it turns out that truth was incomplete, or facts change, and so on.
Promoting an abstract truth is very much -not- the point. I think it will help your confusion if you can wrap your head around this. My apologies if these words don't help.