Once I said to a dear Christian friend: “Suppose there really is no God, and suppose I had it within my power to show you this truth. Would you want me to do it?” She took the question seriously and finally responded, “No; that would be very painful to me.” Question: suppose I did know there is no God and that I did have that power. Would I have the right to show her that painful truth anyway? Would I have the duty to do so? Or would it depend further considerations?
I was going to do a long story, thing is it is a solo journey of discovery and understanding. I can try to talk to a person, a family member or friend but unless they want to listen and talk your trying to relate a truth they do not want goes no where. Don't we see that with the evangelicals and the reality of what trump is?
Stupid questions.
If she didn't want to know, you'd have no right to tell her, even if you had that knowledge and power, which you don't.
You have no idea if there is a 'god' or not; you don't even know what 'god' would be in the first place, since there is no fixed definition.
It seems extremely arrogant and smug of you to presume you have those answers, which points out once again the principle difference between Agnostics and atheists, I suppose.
If you did have such proof, then you would perhaps have a duty to make it public knowledge, and thereby allow everyone who wants it to benefit. But there is a difference between, putting your spare flower seeds on a table at your gate, for the passers by to help them selves, and going out at night sowing them secretly in peoples gardens.
However, if you knew that she was actively suffering because of her belief in god, then perhaps offering to sow vegetables in the gardens of the starving, maybe.
If she clearly said I don’t want to know, then you have to respect her choice. Otherwise, why did you give her the choice in the first place. Additionally, forcing her to hear what you have to say would make you no better than those insisting on giving you the word of god. Duty? I suppose it depends on the level of your friendship, but even so, you can bring the horse to the water, but you cannot make it drink, and you shouldn’t.
A trolley problem involving imaginary beings means you're never damned if you do.
If she's a good person outside of her delusions just let it go. That would causing unnecessary and unwarranted pain. Personally I would find that wrong. If, however, she's a pushy in your face God shouter wake her up.
I can't believe that all the ones who claim they pray really are praying. I had trouble with this in my church daze too. The book of Acts has people being healed because a cloth (aprons as it said in JKV) were prayed over and then sent to the sick person. This is all by the laying on of hands. In modern times the televangelist and others have mail sacks full of prayer requests and they put them all in a pile and pray over them in a similar manner. This gets so outrageous that when others anywhere claim to send "thoughts and prayers" it all translates to me as just wishful thinking. That's right. My mind says nobody is praying for you and it is all wishful thinking. Hypocrites all in my book.
This is something along the line I made a discussion group about. Please feel free to post and discuss there.
Her style or your style of god may not exist. You might be able to show that the non-existent flying spaghetti monster sky God really is non-existant.
Generally people who do not think to critically believe what they want to believe. But I see that as a lack of education or self discipline. People do not want to know that they will never again see their loved ones who have passed away, they do not want to know that when they die, that is it, and they do not want to know that the great dictator in the sky does not exist. The problem with that though is these are the same kinds of people who believe that their elected officials are acting in their interests instead of their own. I would bet that the world would be much more peaceful if we did not have all these wishful thinking people, they are naive, mentally undisciplined, and . . . . dangerous.