1. Moved from a vague agnosticism to atheism
2. Maintained a vegetarian diet for 10 years
3. Shifted my politics from the far-left toward the center-right
Who are these people who think minds never change? That's what I see repeated over and over without evidence.
Minds never change in the moment. That's not how beliefs or the stubborn humans who hold them work. But beliefs can -- and do! -- change over time.
1. you have at least average intelligence
2. you can entertain logical arguments, since software development involves a lot of mathematical logic
3. you are heavily exposed to American culture and San Francisco's progressiveness, even those of us that are not even living in the US ;-)
4. you have a good education, either from an Ivy league school, or because you are an efficient autodidact
5. you are middle class and have your basic needs satisfied by your salary
Don't get me wrong, but there's a high probability that you're living in a bubble, just like most of us here and you're really not representative of the average population.
I think that's disastrously wrong on all counts.
A better metaphor would be that if you confine the Christians to their ghettoes soon someone will take up arms against the infidels.
I see this argument made a lot, however I'd like to see proof that giving such people arguments can change them.
I personally don't think that's the case. It's like giving a Christian arguments that God doesn't exist.