Comment by Jānis Ķimsis on July 21, 2010 at 6:28pm

Not a lot of time to prepare. They could ask how can atheists be moral, try to use some abstract concepts like love as proof for god, and, if all else fails, bring out the biggest fail of them all - Pascal's wager. What were you talking about with your friend? That could come up. Good luck and have fun!

Comment by John Nguyen on July 21, 2010 at 9:36pm

Beware the Ontological Argument. It's a slippery one, and often fatal for the unprepared. Arm yourself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontological_argument

Kant's refutation of it in full:

http://www.ghc.edu/humanities/dlarson/kanto.htm

Comment by D.M Barrera on July 21, 2010 at 11:00pm

Thank you!

Comment by Renshia on July 22, 2010 at 1:27am

Remember you can get away with saying almost anything if you use humor, keep it light. Laugh a lot.. Laughter frustrates the religious for some reason.
Don't get cornered into a dogma argument. The only real discussion should be the existence of god. All the rest is only pretty, or horrible words. Until that one main fact is established, nothing else matters. That is why the ontological argument is a good one to let him get into. It is just a circular argument with no evidence. Just pretty words. but I agree with john it would be good to be familiar with it.
And don't feel guilty for crushing his faith you will be doing him a favor.

Comment by Renshia on July 22, 2010 at 1:29am

May the sock gods bless you with words of wisdom...LOL

Comment by Pesci on July 22, 2010 at 10:39am

I had a similar experience (blog entry here) although I think the premise was a little different because I want not trying to be converted.

I would stick to the high-level arguments. Beyond "gut feelings", what other proof does he have for the validity of his beliefs?

Comment by Serotonin Wraith on July 22, 2010 at 3:30pm

I may be late but -

I'd just try to stick to how he knows there is a god. Evolution (if he doesn't accept that) or Bible stuff just takes it way off course into long debates on one subject.

God did this, God did that... which god? How has he narrowed down the list? Most reasons he could give can be put back to him with the name of the god or religion replaced by one he doesn't believe in to show how it fails.

If it comes down to faith, again, how can we select which things are good to have faith in and which are not? Faith in Yahweh - good. Faith in Zeus - bad. Why?

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