A Philosophical Experiment

First off, I really enjoyed today's discussion, I've always enjoyed discussing the topic of religion, but I feel like it would have been more productive if everyone had a common foundation, at least to some extent. At first I misunderstood Shapiro's proposal- the question of whether or not we would like to be convinced that God exists, I did not realize he actually had a speech prepared that he believes would do just that. Perhaps I was alone in my misunderstanding but now that I do realize what he meant I feel like a dumbass for responding the way I did; I would have answered with an emphatic 'yes'. I asked some other people and I've heard arguments like "If I was convinced God was real I would have to change all my behavior" which, I think we can agree, is absolute bullshit. He would be convincing us of some sort of God concept, not of religion and all its tenants, more than likely he would be proving a non-interventionist God. Regardless, claiming to be able to PROVE beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is real to a room full of millennials is kind of an impressive claim to be making, and I hope I'm not alone in saying that I would love to hear what's backing that claim. For many in our class it seems that this may be one of their first experiences with philosophical discussion and I think it would be reasonable to start a discussion with an experiment we all take part in, I feel like that conversation would be a lot more productive.

I personally would like to see more discussions like today's.