Are you an Atheist and need help debating a Christian? There's an App for that.
The App wars have gone to a whole new level. Apps like Bible Thumper (an App for religious skeptics), Fast Facts, Challenges, & Tactics and The Atheist Pocket Debater have taken the App war to a whole new level.
In a dozen new phone applications, whether faith-based or faith-bashing, the prospective debater is given a primer on the basic rules of engagement — how to parry the circular argument, the false dichotomy, the ad hominem attack, the straw man — and then coached on all the likely flashpoints of contention. Why Darwinism is scientifically sound, or not. The differences between intelligent design and creationism, and whether either theory has any merit. The proof that America was, or was not, founded on Christian principles.Really, we need an App to do this? Here's something novel...take a course on logic...take a philosophy class. Even better yet, pick up a book and read it. In my opinion, any of these will actually serve you better than an App you may or may not use and you might actually learn something.
Between my Droid and iPad, I have dozens of Apps...some games, blogging programs, and various other stuff like Foursquare and Tweetdeck. There is little overlap between the Apps on my Droid and the Apps on my iPad. The one thing that overlaps is I have the YouVersion of the Bible on both. Nothing on debating, especially Atheists. Have we really gotten to the point where we can't argue without the aid of an App? Are we that lazy as a culture? Does anyone else think this is getting a little out of hand?
I mean, I can understand why these Apps are so popular. We're a society of instant gratification. We want it now. We don't want to wait to read a book or to learn philosophy. It will be interesting to see how Apps continue to change our culture...for better or for worse.
You Say God Is Dead? There's an App for That | The New York Times
Pick up a book and read it?? Nooooo!!! Are you out of your mind? There might be something on the DVR from last night I HAVE to see! There might be a new episode with Dancing With The Pets of The Stars of American Idol! Can't you just tell me the answer in short, abrupt, abreviated white letters scrolling across the bottom of the screen like the sports scores and the storm warnings? I mean, you couldn't possibly expect me to actually work for my ability to argue with people. I need to be able to do that in loud, shouted sound bites than end with "I'm just sayin'!" and I really don't need to read to do that. Can't I just watch Keeping Up With the Kardassian's Real Housewives of Bridezilla?
ReplyDeleteI started to write this all in texting shorthand but decided against it. I agree with csalafia--that's Best Quote Ever