It was not a "gotcha" question at all: it was a genuine question. It's also not "my" holy book since I'm not a Christian (I would have called myself an atheist until about maybe a year ago, though it's been 7-8 years since I've been the "angry atheist" I used to be)
I asked a similar question to an IRL "rationalist" atheist friend of mine in maybe 2015 when he was describing how some of his opinions had changed as social views had. So I asked "well what if social views change in a way that conflict with something that's really important to you?" and he answered that he would probably change his views to conform.
Yeah that's what he said about 10 years prior to when I asked him that. Now he believes some things that are extremely irrational and is validated in those beliefs by other mutual IRL atheist friends.
He was a normal STEM rationalist atheist South Park lolbert type 20 years ago. University engineering departments were filled with them. Thought radlib activism was stupid because the people who were pushing it frankly weren't very smart. Hated Christians for much the same reasons. Big fan of Richard Dawkins. He wasn't radical, and he could've just done the whole "I still believe the same things I did 10 years ago; it's the whole rest of the world that went fucking crazy" thing a lot of people here did (and still do).
Around the 2015 timeframe he had changed. I mentioned Dawkins in passing because I knew he liked the guy and he laid into me about how much of an asshole Dawkins was. I'd make fun of these stupid feminist sorts expecting him to join in, and he'd defend them. I think that was one of the things that prompted me to ask him that question, because I noticed those changes in his personality.
It was not a "gotcha" question at all: it was a genuine question. It's also not "my" holy book since I'm not a Christian (I would have called myself an atheist until about maybe a year ago, though it's been 7-8 years since I've been the "angry atheist" I used to be)
I asked a similar question to an IRL "rationalist" atheist friend of mine in maybe 2015 when he was describing how some of his opinions had changed as social views had. So I asked "well what if social views change in a way that conflict with something that's really important to you?" and he answered that he would probably change his views to conform.
Yeah that's what he said about 10 years prior to when I asked him that. Now he believes some things that are extremely irrational and is validated in those beliefs by other mutual IRL atheist friends.
He was a normal STEM rationalist atheist South Park lolbert type 20 years ago. University engineering departments were filled with them. Thought radlib activism was stupid because the people who were pushing it frankly weren't very smart. Hated Christians for much the same reasons. Big fan of Richard Dawkins. He wasn't radical, and he could've just done the whole "I still believe the same things I did 10 years ago; it's the whole rest of the world that went fucking crazy" thing a lot of people here did (and still do).
Around the 2015 timeframe he had changed. I mentioned Dawkins in passing because I knew he liked the guy and he laid into me about how much of an asshole Dawkins was. I'd make fun of these stupid feminist sorts expecting him to join in, and he'd defend them. I think that was one of the things that prompted me to ask him that question, because I noticed those changes in his personality.