Invited to speak at a church

My wife belongs to a Presbyterian church and they are doing a course on skeptics and science. I would like to be one of the speakers there and would like to know if someone has a template for this. something Christopher Hitchens like or if anyone has done this and has some advice.

I have many things to tell them but its not as good as I would like it and I dont want to offend them as this just makes them less receptive to the message.

PS this is a VERY influential church with CEOs and VP of very large companies that attend

For skepticism, you can probably find some inspiration from Michael Shermer - you should be able to find plenty of his talks online. His stuff would probably go over better in a church than Hitchens.

What's the idea of the talk? Is it just meant to be an introduction to skepticism? If so (especially considering the venue), you might want to stick to just outlining the skeptical position and mindset, and not explicitly go into the ways in which religion goes against it.

One effective approach I've seen for talks like this is to start with the question "how do we go about figuring out what's true?" and then go out from there.

Originally Posted by choSenfroZen

George Carlin, although crude could be used to inject some humour, and for a historical aspect, Thomas Jefferson could be quoted as a creator of church/state separation.

What do they have to do with the topic ("skeptics and science")?

I don't think a talk like this necessarily has to be in-your-face against religion.

For one thing, when you're an invited guest, it's not usually considered good manners to insult your host. This is a talk in a church to an audience of church members at the invitation of the church.

For another, a topic like "skeptics and science" is going to imply a fair bit about religion anyhow. If you just outline the basics of skepticism, why it's a good idea and how it works, and especially if you emphasize that it can be applied to any proposition that's held as true or known, then I'm sure a significant portion of the audience will take that idea and run with it, and ask themselves whether their worldview (including religion) is in line with skeptical principles. If you really do want to advance atheism, advancing skepticism gets you most of the way there.

Also, I think that this is a great opportunity to get people thinking critically, but this can be squandered if you get their backs up so they feel threatened and they don't listen to what you have to say.

I think Russell Glasser on The Atheist Experience was the one who said this, but I really took to it: when you're considering what outcomes are successful, you don't need to only count the full-out "deconversions" of people to atheism. If you bring someone from conservative Christianity to liberal Christianity, or liberal Christianity to "general spiritualism", that's a "win". If you get a closet atheist to be an "out" atheist, that's a "win". If you get a devout Christian to treat atheists with respect, even if you don't get him to question his faith at all, it's still a "win".

In this case, if you encourage a group of Christians to start asking whether they have good reason to believe what they accept as true, I'd say that's a huge "win" all by itself. Heck - even if they don't do that but leave your lecture thinking that atheists can be intelligent, well-spoken, nice guys, that's a positive step.

Another thing: since you have some connection with this church through your wife, there's the potential to use this lecture as an opportunity to build relationships with the people there.

My advice: don't directly address religion in your talk at all.

Instead, deal with a neutral topic. Like I said before, you can keep it general by starting with the question "how do we go about figuring out what's true?" Another approach might be to deal with a specific case, but pick one that's "safe" for the audience... for instance, maybe the anti-vax movement or homeopathy - something that doesn't threaten the audience. I'm sure that some people in the audience will connect the dots and realize that prayer is unsupported the same way homeopathy is all on their own.

Actually, now that I think about it, both of those two subjects would work nicely in a "what's the harm?"-type talk about the negative effects of benign-seeming but non-skeptical beliefs... which, again, I'm sure that some people would realize speaks to their own religious beliefs, even if you don't come out and say it.

Originally Posted by Scamentology

I have many things to tell them but its not as good as I would like it and I dont want to offend them as this just makes them less receptive to the message.

I hate using "shoulds" and "shouldn'ts", but one thing is a definite should not: do NOT look at this as an opportunity for you to sell them your message!

penguin made an excellent point: This is a talk in a church to an audience of church members at the invitation of the church.

if you turn the tables, and you were in an atheist group with an invited guest who was religious, you may be curious to listen to his religious perspective on things, but you wouldn't want to have him preach his message to you.

as an example, it is very likely that the subject of evolution will be brought up, but instead of trying to prove that evolution is valid, ask them why they think evolution disturbs so many Christian (usually more orthodox) denominations, but not others (such as Unitarians). this course is about them, not you. if I were in your shoes, I would take this as an opportunity to ask them, as Christians, what their views are on skepticism and science. as Doxus said, being religious is like living on a different plane from reality, but it's still human psychology - believers and non-believers as people are great at justifying irrational behaviour.

it would be interesting to ask them, if you're religious yet are open to skepticism and science, how does a Christian reconcile such differing mindsets? the fact that a church is offering a course on skepticism and science demonstrates a willingness to be open to different ideas. but keep in mind, these people are not about to reject their faith in the name of science anytime soon. your goal should be to foster dialogue with them in a respectful and open-minded way that would encourage them to ask questions about themselves.

Scamentology - did you give your talk? If so, how did it go?

Originally Posted by Penguin

Scamentology - did you give your talk? If so, how did it go?

they sacrificed him for being and infidel/ 2 in 1