About a year ago I reconnected with my high school youth pastor at one of my friend's funerals.  (Miss you, Brian!)  He asked me if I was still going to church, and I honestly answered no.  After that we started corresponding through e-mail and then we met weekly for about a month and talked through his religion and my lack of it.

I went back to the church of my youth (of which he was now the Senior Pastor) one Sunday and it was just so sad.  That church used to be a vibrant thriving community, but in the intervening years it had withered and decayed until now nobody is left except the die-hards who have driven everyone else away.

The Pastor and I made little progress in our talks.  I got him to admit that the only reason he was a christian instead of some other religion was because he was born in America and not Iran or something.  I thought I was getting through to him, but then for our final meeting he brought in a ringer.

This ex-youth minister had all of his talking points laid out in a row, and he neatly worked through them, paying little to no attention to my objections to his faulty logic.  After about ten minutes of this I gave up.  I let the Ringer talk and preach, and then when he finally took a breath I thanked them both and excused myself.  I have not seen either man since.

This experience served to show me that it is impossible to reason with the unreasonable.  These people have their minds made up way before you get there, and they will not hear anything other than what fits with their preconceived worldview.  From now on I will reserve my thoughts for those who actually want to hear them.