Q: I’m an atheist and my family are all true believers. How can I convince them not to believe in God.
A: If someone else believes in God and you don’t, you can’t convince them there is no God. This is because the premise of supernaturalism takes all rational argument out of the equation. For example, you could say: ‘There is no such thing as God. Let me convince you there is no God.’ The believer will immediately think: ‘He doesn’t believe. But one must believe. I believe, and he should. Nothing he will say will convince me.’ To refuse to be convinced by you in such a situation is defiant, but it’s also logically consistent with the entirely faith-based belief that there is a God. To those who believe, faith trumps reason. To those who put reason first, argument or reasoning is always possible.