Politics, Religion, and Debates

People of religious faiths mobilize and organize to enter politics to pass laws based on their faith. If you disagree with the laws they want enacted, the question is how to oppose them.

If the religious faith of a political group does not permit that group to entertain arguments against the positions they hold, then the question of oppositional strategies becomes even more complicated. It would seem that there is no point in debating people whose religious faith does not permit them to change their mind. People of religious faith who believe they are enacting the will of god will only change their mind on pain of damnation.

The first thing to realize is that you are dealing with a political opponent and not a religious opponent. Getting tangled up in obfuscating and obscurantist rhetoric about how you are persecuting their faith and values is a waste of time. You have to smack your political opponent down each time they attempt the persecution move by reminding everyone they are playing the political game, not the religious game.

The second thing to realize is that most people of religious faith are not committed to one political agenda. The trick is to identify those opponents who will not change their minds because of their religious faith. Just about everybody who has ever lived has believed in god and a religion. Some religions claim the right to rule politically because the religion is the one true way. They do not have that right. Don’t give them that right.

The third thing to realize is that it is a waste of time to debate opponents whose faith does not permit them to change their mind if your intent is to argue them into your position. You must be sure you apply the basic litmus test of what their religious faith permits them to do before you get into a time consuming and wasteful debate with them.

The fourth thing to realize is that you will be eventually forced into debates with these types of political opponents. That means that you must tailor your arguments to the unconverted. You must force your opponents at the beginning of the debate to admit they will not change their minds because of their religious faith. The rules of informal logic and rational discourse will only work to convince the open minded.

The fifth thing to remember is that everyone uses more than old fashioned logic to arrive at conclusions. Everyone holds many opinions based on highly complex conceptual frameworks and world views. It is very difficult to do, but people who debate and are ignorant of their opponent’s and audience’s conceptual frameworks, do so at great risk.

The sixth thing to realize is that certain people are obstinate and dogmatic whether it is based on religious or secular views. The religious dogmatist presents a more unique challenge because they use the god is on my side argument in its various forms. Those forms are not always obvious.

The seventh thing to realize is that one of the founding principles of the United States is the separation of church and state. There are people who disagree with that principle. They are taking a political stance, not a religious stance, when they would deny and destroy the principle.

The eighth thing to remember is that it is useless to play the political game if you don’t intend to win.

That is the best I can come with right now.