Isn't there a steelman custom on LW?
Yes, but there is a point where we should put our feet down.
I think Aumann's deeper point is about map/territory, and how we should treat modeling as more-tentative-than-currently-customary (almost everything is modeling, and since all models are false it is useful to hedge/diversify).
Even a very diverse map has to bother with object-level predictions that fit the object-level territory. Religion has so far been an utter failure at doing so.
Of course, one could charge that it's not intended to do so, and yack on about separate magisteria or compartmentalization, but in that case, bite the bullet and simply admit that words like "true" or "real", in their everyday sense of mapping a territory, do not apply to religion.
but in that case, bite the bullet
I am pretty sure Aumann is biting the bulet.
Just came across this interview with Robert Aumann. On pgs. 20-27 he describes why and how he believes in Orthodox Judaism. I don't really understand what he's saying. Key quote (I think):
Anybody have a clue what he means by all this? Do you think this is a valid way of looking at the world and/or religion? If not, how confident are you in your assertion? If you are very confident, on what basis do you think you have greatly out-thought Robert Aumann?
Please read the source (all 7 pages I referenced, rather than just the above quote), and think about it carefully before you answer. Robert Aumann is an absolutely brilliant man, a confirmed Bayesian, author of Aumann's Agreement Theorem, Nobel Prize winner, and founder / head of Hebrew University's Center for the Study of Rationality. Please don't strawman his arguments or simply dismiss them!