uberkuh

Atheists often complain that theists will not listen to reason and deconvert because emotion gets in the way. So, this complaint goes, there isn’t any hope of deconverting a theist until s/he feels like it.

Well, earlier today I read a few pages from D’Holbach’s The System of Nature. And I began to lose interest after only a few paragraphs. Part of the problem is that D’Holbach took a while to get to his point. He could probably expostulate for hours, deconverting his friends out of sheer exhaustion.

Yet, another part of the problem is that, put bluntly, I have shit to do. Life calls, in other words, constantly. It’s relenting in its request for attention. “You forgot to turn off the light.” “You need to wash clothes.” “Your lawn isn’t going to mow itself.” It’s so annoying!

So, if I put myself in the shoes of your average theist with lots of shit to do, it becomes abundantly clear that I will almost certainly never get around to reading critical commentaries on religion, much less thinking about religion critically, which takes more effort. No, instead, I will most likely spend my entire life struggling in a constant tug-of-war with reality to just get shit done. It’s not emotion. It’s not retardation. It’s just life. Life is the culprit.