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What would you ask?

arthwollipot

Limerick Purist
arthwollipot
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As you may have seen in my sig these last few weeks, I am a co-host and religion correspondent for an upcoming skeptical podcast called The Nonsense Podcast. My particular segment will be called God's Word. In this segment I will be exploring the wide variety of religious beliefs that people across the world hold. I will be using a combination of editorials (me talking about stuff) and interviews with people of faith.

I've never interviewed anyone before, so I'm having a little trouble coming up with questions. So I'm throwing it out. If I get an interview with, say, a Young Earth Creationist, a Mormon, a Jesuit or a Buddhist, what questions would you want to hear the answer to?

Please keep in mind that the God's Word segment is specifically intended to be non-confrontational. The intent is NOT to debate. We have another segment, called In The Ring, for debate. God's Word is intended to explore, rather than to challenge, the variety of religious beliefs in the world.

What would you ask?

(BTW, I'm heading to Sydney over the Easter weekend to record Episode Zero of the podcast - where Jason and I introduce ourselves and outline our plans for the podcast series. I'll post links and everything once we've got stuff sorted out.)
 
Buddhist: Do you consider Buddhism to be a philosophy rather than a religion?

Anyone else: Given the proliferation of other religions, what gives you the certainty that yours is the 'right' one?
 
"What do you see as one major problem with your religion and how would you change it?"
 
What do you think of the way that Christianity has been used by some to fight science?
 
Why do you believe what you believe? How have your religious beliefs affected your life?
 
"Would you still be a Mormon/YEC/Moslem/Scientologist if you were the same person, genetically, as you are today, but were raised on a remote Pacific island by aborigines?" I'm sure you can phrase it better, but you can bet they'll dodge the question regardless.

To an Anglican or Catholic:

"If you're a miserable sinner, and you declare this, if not daily, then weekly, why do you then ask God for help when you are self-confessedly unworthy?"


"Why do Christians get divorced more than atheists, in the USA?"


"Do you think I am going to Hell? If not, why not? If not, what exactly is important about spending a significant proportion of my life following the absurd and unjustifiable rules of your God?"


"Don't you think the Qu'ran/Bible is a better moral code by which to live your life than the Qu'ran/Bible?"


"Why did your God put idolatry in the Ten Commandments and not paedophilia?"


"Why was God not clearer on the point of suicide bombing, if that's not the 'True' Islam?"


"If you are going to insist that the world is only 6,000 years old and evolution does not happen, will you stop taking any medicine developed by animal testing (IE, all of it) given that chimpanzees and rats are clearly unrelated to humans and therefore the pharmaceuticals industry must be a giant fraud, comprising as they do the same scientists who confirm evolution on a daily basis?"
 
Oh yes, on which note:

"Why do you hate the vagina so much?"

That one applies to any faith I can think of.
 
Which is more important: Faith or Religion?

Which is more important: Works or Worship?

Which is more important: Belief or Knowledge?
 
Some of these questions are rather more confrontational than I intend. However, some are very good. I'll definitely be using Fnord's suggestions.

Thanks.
 
Here's one that seems to get the most surprising and telling answers.

"What would it take to get you to stop believing in your religion? What evidence/experience would change your mind if it existed"

In talks with theists, I find that this question gets to the heart of why they as an individual have this belief. Asking more directly, you're almost always going to get the stock/inscrutable answer like "I just read the bible and feel the truth and I feel Jesus in my heart".
 
Cavemonster said:
Here's one that seems to get the most surprising and telling answers.

"What would it take to get you to stop believing in your religion? What evidence/experience would change your mind if it existed"

In talks with theists, I find that this question gets to the heart of why they as an individual have this belief. Asking more directly, you're almost always going to get the stock/inscrutable answer like "I just read the bible and feel the truth and I feel Jesus in my heart".
Click to expand...
Yes, that's the sort of thing I'd like to explore.
 
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