1 & 2: Invite him to hang out with you and your rationalist friends. Over time, your target friend will gradually come to realize that his new friends think he is dumb for saying and thinking certain things. Day by day he become less inwardly certain of his religion as the power of social pressure erodes his resolve. He will find himself laughing alongside his new rationalist friends as they make fun of Creationists and seething with them as they rail against the Wesboro Baptists. When questioned, he will make and defend increasingly tentative assertions over time, perhaps first surrendering his insistence on the literal truth of the earth being created in seven days, then later admitting that the virgin birth may have been exaggerated, and finally muttering things about theism being unfalsifiable in principle, at which point it will only take a short verbal shove to get him to stop calling himself religious.
If you wanted some kind of argument that would change his mind, I’ve never heard of such a thing working on anyone.
3) Give your brother thoughtful, useful gifts that he will appreciate. Do not expect anything in return for these gifts. It helps if you are giving the gifts from a sincere motive of wanting to see your brother do well and be happy.
(Against my better judgement,)
1 & 2: Invite him to hang out with you and your rationalist friends. Over time, your target friend will gradually come to realize that his new friends think he is dumb for saying and thinking certain things. Day by day he become less inwardly certain of his religion as the power of social pressure erodes his resolve. He will find himself laughing alongside his new rationalist friends as they make fun of Creationists and seething with them as they rail against the Wesboro Baptists. When questioned, he will make and defend increasingly tentative assertions over time, perhaps first surrendering his insistence on the literal truth of the earth being created in seven days, then later admitting that the virgin birth may have been exaggerated, and finally muttering things about theism being unfalsifiable in principle, at which point it will only take a short verbal shove to get him to stop calling himself religious.
If you wanted some kind of argument that would change his mind, I’ve never heard of such a thing working on anyone.
3) Give your brother thoughtful, useful gifts that he will appreciate. Do not expect anything in return for these gifts. It helps if you are giving the gifts from a sincere motive of wanting to see your brother do well and be happy.
4) Not touching this one.