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Kaj_Sotala comments on How can people be actually converted? - Less Wrong Discussion

5 Post author: yttrium 05 February 2012 10:13PM

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Comment author: orthonormal 06 February 2012 04:43:36PM 14 points [-]

Same thing at the academically best divinity schools in the US; they turn out a lot of non-theists, a fact that shocked me when (as a devout undergraduate) I took a "History of the New Testament" class and found myself surrounded my aspiring preachers who were losing their religion.

One interesting facet of this: since they're exposed to all of these facts by a respected scholar who's not trying to turn them into atheists (i.e. a non-adversarial interaction with someone of higher status), they're much more susceptible to the ideas than they'd be if they were arguing with an atheist peer.

Comment author: Kaj_Sotala 06 February 2012 08:37:51PM 5 points [-]

a fact that shocked me when (as a devout undergraduate) I took a "History of the New Testament" class and found myself surrounded my aspiring preachers who were losing their religion.

I'd be interested in hearing more of this story.