News And Links For Jehovah’s Witnesses
By The Atheist Geek | July 24, 2008
The end of the world is not nigh
YOU could be forgiven for thinking that our existence on Earth becomes more precarious by the decade. So breathe a sigh of relief -
we may never have been safer.
Read it and weep, bitches! Ha ha ha ha!
New Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall opposed
More than 70 residents of Route 102 in North Smithfield and neighboring Burrillville have signed a petition to say they oppose a plan to consolidate multiple Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Halls in the area into one building on Victory Highway.
New Campaign Against Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia?
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News And Links For Atheists
By The Atheist Geek | July 24, 2008
Seven reasons why people hate reason
From religious fundamentalism to pseudoscience, it seems that forces are attacking the Enlightenment world view – characterised by rational, scientific thinking – from all sides. The debate seems black and white: you’re either with reason, or you’re against it. But is it so simple? In a series of special essays, our contributors look more carefully at some of the most provocative charges against reason. The results suggest that for all the Enlightenment has achieved, we still have a lot of work to do.
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News And Links For Atheists:
By The Atheist Geek | July 23, 2008
Richard Dawkins slaps creationists into the primordial soup
His books sell in their millions, his TV programmes are rapturously received, and he’s appeared in Doctor Who. Not bad for a 67-year-old academic. Now Richard Dawkins, scourge of creationists, is championing his Victorian hero
Karadzic ‘worked in Serb clinic’
Captured war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic was living in Serbia’s capital Belgrade and practising alternative medicine, Serb officials say.
Austin Cline On: Atheism Has to be a Creed. It Just Has to Be!
One of the more popular myths about atheism is the idea that it’s some sort of ideology, philosophy, religion, or creed. Some religious theists just can’t understand how atheism can be anything less than that; in fact, some are so much in denial about what atheism is that they will go to great lengths to insist that it must involve some set of beliefs, assertions, and ideas about the world which is analogous to their own.
Alan Roebuck writes…
They should have seen it coming
For years James Randi’s foundation has had a million dollars for anyone able to prove they have paranormal powers. But, he explains, in 2010 that money will be put to far better use.
Anti-Atheist Bigotry: I Don’t Really Hate Atheists, Honest!
Bush Edits Out Jefferson’s Criticism of Religion
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5 More Reasons Why I Don’t Like It When Jehovah’s Witnesses Preach At Me
By The Atheist Geek | July 19, 2008
In an earlier post, I gave you five reasons why I don’t like it when Jehovah’s Witnesses preach at me. Note that this was more than just a list of gripes. This was a list of major no-nos for any Jehovah’s Witness who wanted to talk religion with me. But you didn’t really think there were only five of them, did you? Behold! The Atheist Geek has five more!
Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Ex-Jehovah's Witnesses, XJW Advice, XJW Commentary | 2 Comments »
News And Links For Atheists
By The Atheist Geek | July 18, 2008
Austin Cline’s Mailbag: Feel The Love!
Have you ever let yourself be confirmed by the spirit that he lives? Sometimes it’s just easier for people not to believe in a God, then they think they’re the only one they have to answer their consequences to. I have a friend who was an athiest because of that reason (for the most part), he didn’t want to feel bad for doing bad things, but now he believes in Christ because he let himself feel His love. He told me that he doesn’t think that he could truly love until he had his faith in Christ.
Austin has yet another fan … who doesn’t know jack about atheists. This sort of reminds me of encounters I’ve had with Jehovah’s Witnesses who want to “save me” from myself. Believers should check out Austin’s response to this letter to learn about some common misconceptions people have about atheists. Another recent article from Austin on the subject can be found here.
John Madziarczyk: Atheists Rely Too Much on Science
John Madziarczyk argues that it is faulty reasoning for atheists to expect science to answer questions about religion:
Because the existence of God isn’t a question that science can answer. How do you set up an experiment to test for the existence of God? How do you set something up so that the data can be falsified, meaning that it could be either proved false or not, regarding God? You can’t. It’s not like analyzing the age of a particular strata of rock or doing a chemical experiment.
How does Austin answer the author of this article? Click the link to see.
“Evangelical” Atheism, Or, Is It Okay to Try to Change People’s Minds?
Is it okay for atheists to try to change people’s minds? To try to convince people that their religion is mistaken, and that they should de-convert and become atheists instead?
And is there any difference between that and religious evangelicalism? Between that, and religious evangelicals/ missionaries trying to convince people that their religion (or lack thereof) is mistaken, and that they should convert and join their own religion instead?
…when watching a “testimonial” video that would do Grandpa Simpson proud. A testament of faith so pointless, so unfocused, so self-involved, so completely devoid of content, it’s actually hilarious.
Like this one.
This video is … well … pretty awful. Aw hell, I laughed out loud and knew I had to post a link to Christina’s blog for this alone. Hey, she found it. She should reap the credit. Someone (a mean old atheist like me) should think about a site where they find ramblings like these on You-Tube or wherever. Anyway, the really cool part is at the very end of Christina’s article. You have to read the whole thing to get it, though.
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5 Reasons Why I Don’t Like It When Jehovah’s Witnesses Preach At Me
By The Atheist Geek | July 13, 2008
When ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses are trying to get past that whole Watchtower thing, it can be helpful to codify their problems with the Society by making a list. This helps them understand their experiences in a simple, straight forward way. Understanding (hopefully) allows them to move on with their lives instead of creating their own “I Hate The Tower” web site. It can also help ex-Witnesses get over personal encounters with Jehovah’s Witnesses who are determined to “fix” them by converting them back. These attempts at conversion can be very tedious and upsetting to say the least. In fact, they usually backfire by pushing former Witnesses even further away from the Society than we already were!
Ex-Witnesses aren’t the only ones who can benefit from this article. Even Jehovah’s Witnesses who are in good standing might find a list of their most common blunders interesting. If you are a former Witness like myself, see how many of these you can spot the next time a Witness knocks on your door and wants to have a little chat about “The Truth.”
Topics: Ex-Jehovah's Witnesses, XJW Advice, XJW Commentary | 5 Comments »
News And Links For Ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses
By The Atheist Geek | July 8, 2008
The Watchtower Society Is Definitely Not A Cult
In his book, [Steven Hassan] uses a model called the “BITE” model: The “BITE” model of a cult is: Behaviour Control/Information Control/Thought Control/Emotional Control. Under each type of control, he lists identifying traits to determine if your group is being manipulated with any of the controls listed above (1-4). What I have done is taken each type of control (#’s 1-4 above) and taken each identifying trait under each one and supported each trait with quotes from the Society’s publications.
Leaving The Watchtower: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
But what happens when you leave the Watchtower behind, or any other fundamental religion for that matter? I feel that I am one of a very small minority that survived such an exodus without any serious or damaging effects. It is true that I have forever-and-a-day to contend with the fact that I have lost my family permanently; and that is no small difficulty. But what I’m talking about here is something else that I have seen when individuals leave the Watchtower, especially young people who were raised in the society. It can be agreed that they generally embark on a journey almost completely alone and with a great deal of naivety.
There are a few types of behaviors that I have identified. By no means does this come from any official study, but from my own personal observations….
This is why I like Moxie’s blog. No hate speak or whining about how “the tower” done her wrong. She writes interesting and helpful articles, then lets the readers make their comments without complaint. The comments she got for this are also interesting.
Jehovah’s Witnesses Least Tolerant Of Other Religions: Study Shows
A recent study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has found Jehovah’s Witnesses to be the least tolerant of other beliefs. When asked if many religions can lead to eternal life, just 16% of Witnesses answered “yes.” Compare that to the 57% of Evangelicals, 79% of Catholics, and 39% of Mormons who answered the same way. When asked if there is more than one way to interpret “truth” in the respondant’s religion, 18% of Jehovah’s Witnesses affirmed, compared with 53% of Evangelicals, 77% of Catholics, and 43% of Mormons.
Topics: Ex-Jehovah's Witnesses, XJW News and Links | No Comments »
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