The important thing is to never lose a religious argument, and this article will tell you exactly how to do that - beginning with the first rule: Don't make the usual mistakes! The usual mistakes include circling arguments. You will be challenged on circling arguments every time because they are easy to detect and easy to dismiss. A circling argument is one that goes in circles - a kind of a Catch 22. For example, "God exists because the Bible says so, and since God wrote the Bible, it must be true!"
The primary assumption, and therefore the fallacy in this argument, is that God exists in the first place. The second assumption is that He wrote the Bible. Until these assumptions are proven true beyond doubt, all statements following the assumption that God exists are considered fallacious in a debate. Any mention of the Bible, or the truth of the Bible, will subsequently be challenged based on the original unproven premise that God exists. Since belief is always faith-based and not predisposed to facts, belief can never be proven, and therefore all argumentation on the subject will go around in endless circles.
Another mistake we make when arguing religion is to refer to our personal experiences as proof positive that God, Christ, Buddha, etc., exists. The fallacy here is that, depending upon one's culture, the visions and spiritual experiences will change. My cousin in America might have seen the Virgin Mary sitting on her bed, while the Thai farmer in Bangkok will tell you of a nocturnal visit of the Buddha to his house. It's a cultural thing.
Thailand is almost 90 % Buddhist, and America almost 90 % Christian. In each culture, the dominant religion is reinforced every day by the entire population. It is natural then, that Thais will see visions of Buddha, and Americans visions of Christ. If one argues that his or her vision is much deeper and truer than another's, then the argument will go nowhere because there is no empirical evidence that any of the visions, regardless of how real they can seem, are more than psychological illusions based on cultural and religious conditioning. If they were real, then Americans and Thais would have to see the same image for that image to be the entire truth. So don't make the mistake of saying that you know the truth because you have seen it for yourself; or you will lose the argument!
There are other mistakes we can make in our religious arguments, but the important question is; how can we win them? To be true to this article's title, I must now tell you the secret, and it's easy; the same way that Christ and the Buddha won theirs – they lived their convictions.
It wasn't as much of a verbal thing as it was the example they gave us. This example, this tangible evidence of compassion and goodness that was their lives, transcends all arguments, because to argue is easy, but to live our convictions is not - to live our convictions takes sacrifice. The Buddha and Christ's lives have resonated throughout the world for over 2500 and 2000 years respectively, overcoming all political and sociological upheavals that could be invented by humankind - that's how powerful true compassion is. More powerful than all the bombs and armies in the universe. When we want to look for proof that a religion is true, look no further than the compassion shown by its followers.
Compassion means caring about others, not only others in our particular comfort zone, but all of humanity – the rich, (and especially the poor), the healthy, (and especially the ill), the successful (and especially the downtrodden), the intelligent, (and especially the mentally challenged), the religious, (and especially the non-religious), the, red, yellow, white, and those of color. Our countrymen and women. (and especially the foreigners), the young, (and especially the old) – this is how we care. .
Compassion is the true measure of any spiritual or religious ideal, far surpassing beliefs or dogma. The proof is in the pudding. When compassion is present, all argumentation becomes foolish and bows to love, because all argumentation is only that, argumentation.
It matters little what path is taken. What's important is how one journeys, and how one treats others during the passage. And at the end of the journey? Well, the compassionate ones will tell you that the journey never ends . . .
True compassion knows no limits.
E. Raymond Rock of Fort Myers, Florida is cofounder and principal teacher at the Southwest Florida Insight Center, http://www.SouthwestFloridaInsightCenter.com His twenty-eight years of meditation experience has taken him across four continents, including two stopovers in Thailand where he practiced in the remote northeast forests as an ordained Theravada Buddhist monk. His book, A Year to Enlightenment (Career Press/New Page Books) is now available at major bookstores and online retailers. Visit http://www.AYearToEnlightenment.com