Member-only story

The Christian Constipation Method

Does religious word salad have too much fiber?

Andrew R. French
6 min readMar 23, 2024

Christians use words like salvation, grace, and redemption without defining them. As soon as an atheist allows any of these concepts into discourse without challenging them, the atheist begins to lose their ability to defend an argument with rationality.

In many debates between atheists and Christians, I notice a crucial moment when the atheist is so overwhelmed by the sheer volume and variety of claims by the Christian that they began to lose their ability to focus on one claim at a time. As soon as that happens, the Christian has the upper hand in the debate because they have introduced irrational concepts into what is supposed to be a rational conversation. I think of this as the tipping point. While I don’t assume most Christians are doing this on purpose, this is a sure way to introduce so much indigestible fiber into the conversation that the debate will become constipated.

If you listen carefully to any conversation, it’s obvious when we are in our comfort zones. Atheists are comfortable talking about reason, evidence, and science, while Christians are comfortable talking about emotions, the bible, and the doctrines of their religion. The adoption of rational thought inspires atheists to use a certain type of lexicon, while religiosity requires…

--

--

Andrew R. French
Andrew R. French

Written by Andrew R. French

Writer exploring the integration of the Environment, Health, and Spirituality from the perspective of Thich Nhat Hanh's concept of Interbeing.

Responses (5)