Theists: what is the best way to answer a misguided non-religious question?

Question

When a user asks a question whose premises are misguided, do you believe that it is better to:
a) answer the question to the best of your ability, or
b) to point out that (YOU BELIEVE THAT) the question is misguided?

Why? Which answer do you believe is more beneficial to the user who posted the question?

An example of a question that may be commonly labeled as misguided is:

-How did the Big Bang happen? (assumptions: God didn't create the universe, etc.)

Answer 1

I think it depends on the "spirit" of the question. In a pure text environment such as this, you can have a hard time telling whether someone is just being a crank or if they might actually be thinking. I try, most of the time, to assume they are serious. Therefore I frequently do challenge a faulty premise. But if the question seems the least bit sincere, then I try to go the extra mile and answer the question both on their terms and in terms of a correction to the premise. Hopefully something will connect and be useful to them. Sometimes, though, when the question is particularly hostile, I attack a faulty premise in a way that is mainly designed to help other readers not get tripped up by it.

Answer 2

Demonstration:

>> How did the Big Bang happen?

Ignoring the fact that you're making an assumption, the Laws of the Conservation of Motion and Angular Momentum prove there never was any Big Bang. If you're not familiar with these Laws of Science, that's two points against you already.

Answer 3

If the question reveals a complex bundle of presuppositions that you have no hope of unravelling, then leave it alone, or try to answer as best you can. People ask about heaven all the time when they really mean salvation - I don't bother to point out the original Greek or the origins of "heaven" mythology.

But if the assumption is a simple factual error, and the answer to the question depends on the factual error, it is probably better to point it out. For example, if someone says, "Why are Christians opposed to evolution?", I like to point out that the majority of Christians *do* believe in evolution. To me, that is the real answer to the question.

Answer 4

When you believe that someone else is "misguided," you now have a "debate." If you're going to label someone as "misguided" you'd better have the tools and the intellect to enter the debate without making yourself look stupid. The example question you ended your post with makes me wonder about your ability...

Answer 5

I think it can be a) AND b). Especially because that's the whole point of an open forum. I don't like a rant, though. However, I really DO like to hear other people's opinions and beliefs, even if they differ from mine. Sometimes ESPECIALLY if they differ from mine. Make things interesting.

Answer 6

I call them on on their bullshit AND answer the question to the best of my ability, but you have to take it outside the box a little sometimes.

Answer 7

When religionists ask silly, misguided questions, they want to be laughed at. Oblige them.

Answer 8

Answer the spirit of the question; don't take it literally.

Answer 9

That would put you in the same position because you incorrectly assume that god made the universe

Answer 10

what is all this babble and what exactly are you trying to say, the big bang happened and it happens everyday and maybe thousands of times everyday, and there are multiple universes, explain that religiously.