| | This feedback has been very helpful. Interestingly, it has made me re-think how to approach atheists and freethinkers. In other words, as Will noted, people interested in Objectivism tend to want to improve their own conditions. They value themselves most highly and embrace the virtue of self-reliance. Many self-styled atheists and freethinkers still embrace altruism a la the secular humanist movement.
Robert Davison has suggested in the past that the best approach to introducing new people to Objectivism relies on challenging altruistic ethics rather than supernatural metaphysics. Show a man that his own life is his own highest value, and that he can achieve that value through his own reasoning, and his emotional need for "Santa God" -- or "Nanny State" -- or "Mother Earth" -- dissipates. This "inside out" approach starts at the deepest spiritual level of the soul (self) and then works outward through emotions (self-esteem), mind (reason), and body (purpose). See my recent article about the PROPEL(TM) brochure and download the PDF file to see the graphic representation of this approach.
Meetup members interested in the Entrepreneurs, Book Clubs and Self-Improvement topics, I think, all implicitly grasp this need for self-motivation and independent thinking more than do many Atheists and Agnostic types who are simply angry at religion. I had suspected this for a while, but the poll results corroborate my own suspicions.
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