Eliezer recommends that we leave a line of retreat when discussing controversial topics, since this prevents scary propositions from clouding our judgment. However, I've noticed recently that there are some topics that are just too scary for people to think about, the existence of God being a primary example. Simply put, people don't want to admit that the universe is beyond the reach of a caring God, no matter how much evidence there is to the contrary. People especially don't want to hear that they will one day cease to exist, never to be reincarnated or continued in an afterlife. I've found this to be a major stumbling block when having discussions with theists or agnostics--though the people I've talked to are willing to accept that nonbelievers can lead very moral lives, the thought that "it's just us" is the stopsign that prevents the discussion from moving further. Naturally I've explained that it's important to only believe things that are true, but for some people this meme just can't overcome the scariness of a naturalistic universe.
Have any LessWrongians managed to overcome this obstacle? If so, how? We can generalize this problem somewhat: are there effective techniques for getting people to clearly evaluate the probability of scary or depressing propositions? Explanations with the smallest amount of inferential distance are preferred--while something like cryonics does answer most of the theistic objections raised above, it's a huge distance away from most people's belief systems. (That said, it's quite possible that the answer to my question might be "No, there are no effective techniques that have short inferential distances," and in the spirit of this post I'm willing to accept that.) I'd also be interested in hearing anecdotes about similar situations if anyone has any.
This is a bit of a digression, but... I notice that the degree to which I am willing to face a prospect that scares me, rather than hide from it, can vary from day to day. It depends on what else is going on, it depends on whether I've recently been successful at something, it depends on how the prospect is being framed, it depends on how hopeful I feel about my future, it depends on how worthy I feel. Sometimes it varies and I don't know why.
I suspect that most people are like that.
So I expect that if achieving my goal depends on getting a person to think about subjects that are too scary for them to think about, it's worthwhile to think about the larger context of that person, what's going on in their lives, how recently they've been successful at something, how hopeful and worthy they feel, etc., as well as just thinking about the subject itself and compelling arguments for it.