Unchangeable belief means refusing evidence even at death’s door

Evidence

When I say “unchangeable,” I mean sticking to your beliefs no matter what. If 1am 100% certain that there is no such place as heaven, and that Socrates was not a man, and then I die and (in passing) glimpse Socrates in heaven corrupting the youth with his questions, and I s¢ill refuse to believe, that is “unchangeable.” — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 2629

Categorization

• FICTION: The heaven/Socrates thought experiment is a vivid little fiction in itself — a comic-revelation scenario that could seed a story.
• CANDY: The image of dying, glimpsing Socrates in heaven, and still refusing to believe is a genuinely funny, tellable bit.