silly religious arguments

friend: shit, it’s cold today!

me: yes, minus 25! Beautiful clear sky though. Did you see the sunrise?

friend: no, I overslept.

friend’s friend: that’s why Dawkins is wrong.

me and friend: er…sorry?

friend’s friend: if evolution was [sic] true, then no one would have been able to live in these temperatures.

me and friend: er…sorry?

friend’s friend: because evolution happened a long time ago, and obviously monkeys wouldn’t have had clothes or central-heating, so how could they have survived long enough to turn into humans?

friend: er, evolution doesn’t actually say that monkeys turned into humans.

friend’s friend: yes, it does.

friend: no, it doesn’t. A common ancestor is not the same thing as one thing “turning into” another.

friend’s friend: ......... isn’t it? Oh. But what about all the art that wouldn’t have been made without religion?

friend: er…. but you’re not saying that actually increases the likelihood of Christianity actually being true, are you?

friend’s friend: [thinks hard for a while] no. But religion isn’t necessarily about truth.

friend: do you think maybe that is part of the problem?

friend’s friend: there’s no need to be so aggressive. I have a right to defend my beliefs!

friend: and you believe that religion creates art and that is a reason for endorsing it?

friend’s friend: yes.

me: Wilfred Owen’s poems are art. That isn’t a reason to endorse war.

friend’s friend: yes, it is.

friend: .......... more tea, anyone?