Maybe the spirit of Christmas is affecting the judgment of this particular non-believer, but on this holiday morning I am thinking benign thoughts about how we humanists should be going about our business. The issue is whether we can afford to rely entirely on satire and confrontational tactics as we attempt to persuade others that our way of thinking is better than uncritical faith in the old religions.
Satire is one of the older forms of human comment.
As a form of argument, it has undeniable advantages. Irony, slapstick, and other ingredients can be melded together to produce an infinite variety of delectable concoctions. It is a very superior way to illustrate the inconsistencies and weak points of the idea or thing being ridiculed. For humanists, the old-fashioned religions are prime targets for satire, especially when the true believers insist that dogma be taken literally. There is something inherently silly about insisting the world is flat when anybody with enough money can buy a ticket and fly around the world, and when we all see pictures of planet earth taken from outer space.