Reading Steve Hassan's Releasing the Bonds I was surprised to read the description of a technique known as "Counter attitudal argumentation". It's described as follows: "Essentially, each side is given a structured amount of time, say ten minutes, to defend the other person's point of view as if it was his own. For example, the loved one who doesn't believe in the Trinity argues why he believes in the Trinity. The parent who believes in the Trinity presents all of the arguments against the Trinity, as if he believes that point of view." The goal is to enable the person to step into another person's reality and see things from their point of view.
Why did this technique sound familiar? Because it was demonstrated on the District Convention programme! Parents were shown how they could get their child to reseach why attending a worldly party or event would be inadvisable. Then the parent asks the child to spend a few minutes role playing, pretending to be the parent and explaining why they would not allow their child to go
To be fair the parent should also role play the part of the child and make a defense of why they should be allowed to go. I must have been asleep during that part of the demo! 