How to debate new age - input wanted
Posted on: July 15, 2009 - 12:04pm
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How to debate new age - input wanted
Any suggestions on debating / discrediting that new age religion bullshit (curing cancer with gongs and pots of water). I have family who is buying into that and starting to discuss it on a family email line. Vs discrediting religion I have found writing a response addressing new age to be more difficult because this belief system has no basis ... you are either 'enlightened' or your not. So outside of just calling someone fuct in the head I have having a hard time coming up with a cordial way to take this on.
Again this is family so I dont want to be an asshole, but I feel it necessary to challenge this in the same context it was presented.
Thanks in advance for any input.
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Would you please give us some samples of what you are dealing with?
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I'd just ask them for avidence. Since its family and you dont want to be a dick I Would let the cancer victim deceide. If they're going to die I would say humour them. If its unlikely they will die then humour them until they recover. Then again, I suggest you don't take my adivce, I'm not really accredited to answer these things.
renegadefuturist.com/archives/2008/03/24/debunking-complementary-and-alternative-medicine/
Start here, and the best of luck.
How can not believing in something that is backed up with no empirical evidence be less scientific than believing in something that not only has no empirical evidence but actually goes against the laws of the universe and in many cases actually contradicts itself? - Ricky Gervais
Welcome to the forum.
If you can get them into a discussion on empirical data that might be the best course. If not then I would take the philosophical route and ask them how they define enlightenment, how do you know you're enlightened, on what authority do they make these distinctions, etc.
"Do not, as some ungracious pastors do, show me the steep and thorny way to heaven. Whiles, like a puff'd and reckless libertine, himself the primrose path of dalliance treads. And recks not his own rede."
As a recent survivor of cancer, I can say that gongs were not mentioned as a possible cure of rmy disease. Every cure that was proffered had an enormous amount of empirical data that accompanied it. Thus, I was able to make decisions about my treatment options. I would ask for widespread studies that support the claim. I would refuse to look at anecdotal evidence, which is the hallmark of any religion.
"Tis better to rule in Hell than to serve in Heaven." -Lucifer
Hi, Lou, welcome to the forum.
I would be as blunt as possible.
Cancer is a class of disease in which certain cells in your body grow out of control. This is not affected by gongs or pots of water. Ergo, this form of treatment has no effect. Then, ask them how they know it works.
Our revels now are ended. These our actors, | As I foretold you, were all spirits, and | Are melted into air, into thin air; | And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, | The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, | The solemn temples, the great globe itself, - Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, | And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, | Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff | As dreams are made on, and our little life | Is rounded with a sleep. - Shakespeare