Which is more powerful?

Question

A conversation with an atheist that can speak their mind in a logical and understandable manner, clearly explaining their viewpoints and opinions

OR

A conversation with a devout believer who uses excerpts from the bible as their only source of explanation with no opinions of their own?

AND WHY?!?!

I never said that Christians have no opinions - I'm giving a case of TWO EXTREMES just to get YOUR opinion.

I'm not trying to offend or even generalize - I'm asking hypothetically here.. WOW!

If it makes you more comfortable, feel free to answer it this way - which one - The believer who uses articulate conversation to explain their opinions and viewpoints without using Scripture to back it up OR the Atheist who uses whatever books he's read lately without any opinons of his/her own?

It's the same question....

Answer 1

(A) A conversation with anyone who can support their conclusions with reasons, evidence, premises, etc will be much more productive than another who simply repeats their beliefs.

Answer 2

More 'powerful'? That's a bit vague. Keep in mind Hitler was quite the 'powerful' speaker.
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I'm certain you see these as two extremes that are at odds but they're truly not. One would be speaking about religious neutrality from as you established it a logical standpoint. And the other would be speaking about belief from a biblical standpoint. The two are not at odds or even incompatible.

An example - I was about a year ago on a 9 hour flight sitting with a very friendly Russian Orthodox priest. We had a great time. And yes we even talked about religion and agreed on many things. We even talked about evolution. Shocking I know. And you would never guess how it came up. You simply would not...

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al_moskowitz - I would like to hear that also and I'm an atheist. There is nothing about the word atheist that implies 'knowing there is no god'. Atheism by definition is religiously neutral. The word literally means "without theism" with no implicit or explicit reason.

Answer 3

The atheist is better. A conversation is based off of two or more people using their mind. So the chat with an atheist is better because you can talk freely and analyze any point that you wish to do.

But speaking to a bible quoter is not a conversation at all. they will quote a verse then another. You might as well just read the bible.

Answer 4

The first one. Seen as how you've described the atheist, this person seems eloquent, which would imply a proper education on its part, therefore has acquired more knowledge from various sources and has developed critical thinking to adapt to any conversation given subject.

The other subject has only one source of information, cannot cite evidence, and seen as how it has no opinions of its own it cannot adapt and advance in an argument.

Answer 5

The atheist conversation.
Listening to someone babble on and quoting a book of fiction would be no more fun than someone quoting lines and recanting an episode of "A Simple Life". They may absolutely love it, but they can't say why other than "it's funny" (or as with the bible "because it's god's word)

Answer 6

For me they could both be compelling.

I find bible excerpts without explanation or a little interpretation to be less than poweful/influencial.

The more I see discrepancies from believers who study the bible, the less powerful the bible becomes to me.

However, when a devout person uses his or her own words I often find it very powerful.

Answer 7

This is the nature of the two. I'd rather not have a conversation with either of them about religion/biblical things.

As for which one is more powerful..
for the most part, your bible-carrying reader will say the believer, of course, and your atheists and many scientists will say the logical course of discussion.

Answer 8

Depends who you're asking - I actually don't think we can objectively quantify which is more "powerful." Different people are moved by different things. "Religious" people have been programmed to respond to Scripture, and to rely on Scripture to make up their minds for them about every trifling question that arises in life. The Bible functions as a surrogate brain. You can't "speak your mind in a logical and understandable manner, clearly explaining your viewpoints and opinions," and expect it to have an impact on that mentality.

In just the same way, "religious" people are wasting their time quoting Scripture to atheists like myself. (Never mind that, as a scholar, I usually know more Scripture than they do, and have a much better sense of the historical circumstances in which these books were written, and the intent of the original authors.) Their ability to regurgitate passages by rote fails to convince me of anything other than their servility.

Answer 9

believer wins quite often-appeals to peoples emotions-the atheist requires thought to understand and people can be very lazy---not just christians do that -politicians quite often make speeches the have no logic what so ever but by appealing to peoples emotions they can get an amazing amount of support-----not sure why there are so many sheep--enjoy the day

Answer 10

The believer, because people are emotional creatures. For the most part, they make decisions based on their "gut", and ignore things like logic and reason.

Edit: Besides, you could never get another person to do something totally irrational by using pure logic and reason. Through faith, you could get an entire nation to fall in line and commit genocide.

Answer 11

well the athiest is less likely to come up with a conclusion because we admit we dont know everything and often will never understand things. we could of course get together and write a fairy story to explain all the things we dont understand