Brian Griffin is cognitively dissonant in regards to religion

Claims to Knowledge of Inner Thoughts/States.This point is essentially an argument from lack of epistemic backing on my part. Con argues that we don't know how Brian feels inside his mind, therefore we don't have evidence of anxiety producesd from contradictions in Brian's beliefs/actions/identity. However, Con's own example of Brian's reaction to Stewie seeing him praying in "April in Quahog" serves as a rather perfect example of just that. Brian's identity and previous actions/beliefs all point to him being an atheist. However, his action in question (praying in a time of great peril) constitutes a divergence from that mode of behavior which he is obviously not yet willing to publicly (and maybe even privately) admit of. Therefore, he becomes anxious, denying his behavior and giving lame excuses (refer to the video). We don't know the inner workings of Brian's mind but this can't be the only type of sufficient proof. Available evidence points to cognitive dissonance and Con hasn't provided evidence to the contrary.Existential State of Cognitive Dissonance in the FG Universe.This was actually an interesting and creative argument from my opponent and I applaud him for the thought. However, unfortunately, it doesn't have much warrant. The first point of evidence by Con is a possible different makeup of the brain in the FG universe, one in which the two hemispheres of the longitudinal fissure are missing in the brain for instance. However, Con offers no evidence/reasoning to suggest that any of these differences would necessitate a lack of a cognitive dissonance ability in FG characters. Con's claim that we have no good reasons to think cognitive dissonance could exist in Brian's case is false in that it doesn't come from brain scans, but from behavior.Moreoever, Con's suppositions regarding brain make-up in the FG universe leads to absurd conclusions, therefore it should be discarded. For instance, if anyone's brain really lacked a cerebellum, they'd have a much harder time with things like motor function[1]. But of course, in the FG universe, people seem to have a remarkably similar ability to do things like swing baseball bats, balance, and exhibit more general aspects of motor control. The behavior of FG characters in itself shows that Con's brain analysis is off.Supposed Compatibility of Atheism and the Supernatural.This argument is simply a misrepresentation of the experiences of Brian's which I showed. Brian didn't see angels or life after death or anything like that. He saw Jesus Christ and heard reputable second-hand accounts of experiences of God. While it's true that one can still be an atheist while believing in some supernatural concepts (the limit of which might be an interesting topic for later), holding a belief in actual deities would not appear to be compatible with atheism. Con hasn't given us any reason to think that you can be an atheist *and* believe in God/the divinity of Jesus Christ.Rival Explanations.Con here offers different explanations of a possible exposition of cognitive dissonance on Brian's part in the FG episode "April in Quahog". The first alt explanation is that Brian changed his beliefs so that he was actually no longer an atheist. Now we know for sure that Brian is at least an atheist at episode 11 of the seventh season. The question is whether he changed his religion between that time and episode 16 of season 8. Con, while quick to criticize the evidence for cognitive dissonance, offers no evidence that Brian changed his religion, publicly or privately. For all we know, Brian was still an atheist with hard doubts which he was refusing to come to terms with (as evidence by his denying that he was praying in the first place).Con also offers no evidence for the second option (contrarianism) other than anecdotal evidence from his personal life. There's no need to get into the third option since Con denies it shortly after positing it. On the fourth option (cognitive dissonance), Con's criticism is that Brian doesn't exhibit the normal responses to cognitive dissonance. However, this is a plainly false claim. Cognitive dissonance is described as being "particularly evident in situations where an individual's behavior conflicts with beliefs that are integral to his or her self-identity."[2] Isn't this what Brian is doing in the scene in question? Brian is a publicly committed atheist and there's no evidence that this image has changed since episode 2 of the same season. However, he is clearly exhibiting contradictory thoughts, causing a rift between his behavior and self-image. This is in fact a clear case of cognitive dissonance, contrary to Con's claim.===Sources===[1] http://neuroscience.uth.tmc.edu...[2] http://psychology.about.com...http://www.youtube.com...