Editing Star Trek rule

The '''Star Trek rule''' states:
: Before quoting the [[Bible]] to [[atheist]]s, always ask yourself whether the same statement would be just as effective in your mind if you were quoting Captain Kirk.

It is a form of the [[outsider test]], which is the principle that beliefs should be examined as if outside the particular belief system.

==Examples==
{{Quote-source|What does God need with a starship?|Fictional character James T. Kirk in ''Star Trek V: The Final Frontier''.<ref>http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098382/quotes?item=qt0395306</ref>}}

{{Quote-source|[Y]ou could claim that ''anything's'' real if the only basis for believing in it is that nobody's ''proved'' it doesn't exist!|Fictional character Hermione Granger, in ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows''<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=H1w9AwAAQBAJ&lpg=PT334&dq=you%20could%20claim%20that%20anything's%20real%20if%20the%20only%20basis%20for%20believing%20it%20is%20that%20nobody's%20proved%20it%20doesn't%20exist&pg=PT334#v=onepage&q=%22you%20could%20claim%20that%20anything's%20real%20if%20the%20only%20basis%20for%20believing%20in%20it%20is%20that%20nobody's%20proved%20it%20doesn't%20exist%22&f=false|''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'', Google Books]</ref><ref>[https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/869160-but-that-s---i-m-sorry-but-that-s-completely-ridiculous-how J.K. Rowling quotations at goodreads.com]</ref>}}

{{Quote-source|Atheism will never be a ‘religion’. Look, we are a ‘religious preference’ (the Army’s term). Even ‘no-religious-preference’ is still a preference. As a great man once said (in a really high voice) “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.”|Justin Griffith, quoting lyrics from the band Rush.<ref>http://www.examiner.com/article/former-us-army-chaplain-goes-ballistic-on-rock-beyond-belief-leader-griffith</ref>}}

==Origin==

The Star Trek rule was given in the form above by [[User:Kazim|Russell Glasser]]<ref>[http://atheistexperience.blogspot.com/2008/04/closed-captioned-for-humor-impaired.html Atheist Experience blog post] in which the rule was articulated.</ref>,
in response to Christians who quote extensively from the Bible in lieu
argument.

The point of the Star Trek rule is that a good argument does not
depend on who articulates it, or even whether the person giving the
argument exists or not. For instance, [[Socrates]] may or may not have
existed; but the points he makes are true regardless of whether he was
a real person or merely a character invented by [[Plato]].

If, on the other hand, an argument depends on the identity of the
person making the argument, then it is important to establish that the
person actually exists. As a trivial example, you will react
differently to the threat "give me your money or I'll shoot you"
depending on whether the speaker is standing in front of you with a
gun, or appears on a movie screen.

Christians who have been raised to see the [[Bible]] as both true and full
of wisdom may have trouble distinguishing the two. The Star Trek rule
helps to make this distinction.

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Argumentation]]
[[Category:Logical fallacies]]