[jandrese]

The big thing is you can't convince someone who doesn't want to be convinced. They have already made up their mind, dug in their heels, and are willing to fight to the death.

In some cases they would consider themselves a bad person if they didn't defend their ideals to the death. This is especially true if there is a religious aspect to their view. They don't call it a "reasoned position" on religion, it is belief. Belief is strongest when you keep it despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. This is a core tenet of Christianity and I suspect most other religions as well. Your faith will be tested by "deceivers" constantly and you must keep it.

It's impossible to use logic or science to convince someone of something when they think logic and science are tools of the devil.

It's also the Amiga effect. When a community grows smaller the remaining members are the most ardent. Once you are down to just a handful of remaining members all that is left are the die hard fanboys. All of the reasonable people left a long time ago.

[socalnate1]

"Belief is strongest when you keep it despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. This is a core tenet of Christianity and I suspect most other religions as well."

Huh? This isn't true at all.

[sevensor]

"Core tenet" overstates the case a bit, but credo quia absurdum has a long history in Christian apologetics.

[sopooneo]

To your point, the first step is to make them want to be convinced. For the irrational, changing beliefs is about many of the things we might consider heresy: appeals to authority, ad homonym attacks, etc. But much more often, I have found the key is if the person feels connected to you or the people making the counter argument.

You can not use logic to dissuade someone of a belief they arrived at emotionally. Instead, if you actually want to do it, you have to use emotion. It's our poor thining that makes us to try reason with the unreasonable.

[aidenn0]

Fideism plays an important role in some sects of Christianity, but is considered heresy in others. It is not mentioned in any of the eccumenical creeds.

That being said, there has always been a strong minority pushing for it, and one interpretation of the doctrine "Sola Scriptura" (which is a core tenent of Protestantism) would be that anything contrary to scripture is wrong (hence young-earth creationism).

[jhawk28]

1 Cor 15:14-19 is very clear that if Jesus did not raise from the dead, then Christian beliefs are in vain.

You are describing a cult not a core tenent of Christianity.

[soylentcola]

Luke 16:22 - Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake

Peter 4:14 - If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

Matthew 10:22 - and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Not all the exact same thing but the concept is fairly common in Christian scripture and teaching. Basically people will denounce you, hate you, oppose you, and ostracize you for your beliefs, but if you stick to it, you're blessed or favored by God.

Like anything regarding scripture and religion you can interpret this in plenty of ways. Maybe they don't specify what aspects of the faith you must always hold in spite of all else, but the way it's often taught (and as it was presented to me growing up in a Christian community), you must hold to your beliefs in the existence of a God, whose son was Christ, who rose from the dead, and all of the related supernatural implications laid out in the core beliefs of Christianity. People will argue against your beliefs and even persecute you for holding them, but if you want to really prove the strength of your faith and your worthiness as a Christian, you need to stick to your guns.

Either way, it's a matter of debate whether this is a core tenet or not so I'll agree with you there. Still, it's definitely a strong "principle" of many Christian teachings for as far back as the religion has resembled its modern form.