News And Links For Ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses And Atheists: The Governing Body Declares Itself The Faithful And Discrete Slave

VIDEO: 2012 Annual Meeting Program

That’s right, kids. The Governing Body is now the Faithful and Discrete Slave itself! High fives anyone? No?

Yeah, I wasn’t surprised either. Whoever had cash riding on this just got paid. Read more about it here. It starts to get interesting around the subheading When Did Jesus Appoint “the Faithful and Discreet Slave” Over His Domestics?

VIDEO Response – Jehovah’s Witness Documentary – We Want Your Story!

Myths about atheism obscure its secular values

What then is atheism, outside of these myths? What is “new atheism”? And why does a secular state protect the rights of everyone equally?

2012 Holiday Gift Guide for Geeks Just a Dash of Geek

I’ve started writing for AtheismTV. Jehovah’s Witnesses : AtheismTV

Add your silly review of the following insane book: Helping the Retarded to Know God (Concordia leadership training series): H R Hahn, W H Raasch: 9780570063506: Amazon.com: Books

You’ll note there’s already a couple of reviews, including one from friend Kyria Abrahams.

Here’s another. Just for fun. The Haunted Vagina: Carlton Mellick III: 9780976249887: Amazon.com: Books

The author of this book is full of … novel ideas.

News And Links For Atheists And Ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses: Candace Conti Awarded $28 Million in Jehovah’s Witness Child Molestation Case

College is siphoning all of my time and much of my will to live as I take four tests every week while trying to hold down a job. So I have not been able to put together much in the way of content here or anywhere else.

I still have some things that deserve mentioning, so I’m putting them together for you here.

Plaintiff Awarded $28 Million in Jehovah’s Witness Child Molestation Case

On June 17th, 2012 the New York Times reported that a Northern California jury awarded $28 million in damages to Candace Conti who said the Jehovah’s Witnesses allowed an adult member of a Fremont, Calif., church to molest her when she was 9 years old (Superior Court of California, case no. HG11558324). Molestation lawsuits encompass a broad range of circumstances including criminal charges filed on the behalf of a molested child. Now, AttorneyOne.com, a recognized authority on law, can provide helpful, proven advice and simple solutions including how to get in contact with legal counsel so anyone can easily and inexpensively deal with cases of Molestation. http://www.attorneyone.com/molestation/

You can go back and learn more about the case from documents available here.

Why I Am Not a Jehovah’s Witness

I was genetically designed to be a Jehovah’s Witness. I say that because, unlike so many others, I did not join the religion at the behest of a smiling face knocking at my door one morning but rather because my parents were Jeho­vah’s Witnesses. And they were both Jehovah’s Witnesses because their parents were Witnesses. There was no other route—no other reality—in my world than that of the Witnesses and the publishing company that dictates their doctrine, the Watchtower Society. I was taught from an early age that the Watchtower’s teachings were the truth, even to the point of calling them “the Truth.”

Blog Archive Mormon Blogger Faces Excommunication

Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Theory of Evolution – The Genesis Account

Our Knowledge vs. Their Knowledge

They will tell you that all of these others — these outsiders with their “evidence,” these people who claim to “know” things — are evil liars. They will explain to you that these others are part of a conspiracy. It is a huge, vast, global conspiracy of wicked people that encompasses everyone — everyone except, of course, them. And they will invite you to join them in opposing this conspiracy. They will invite you to join them in believing — without basis or evidence — the very worst things you can imagine about millions of people whom you have never met. They will invite you to join them in celebrating yourselves as uniquely righteous and as better than everyone else — the sole remnant of innocence in an irredeemably wicked world.

A Conversation With WhoIsYourCreator.Com

This is a long one, but worth it.

So here’s my story and subsequent conversations with whoisyourcreator.com. After a return trip along Interstate 5 in Southern Oregon, I noticed a billboard along the side of the freeway with the caption ‘Are they making a monkey out of you’? Having some higher education basics of science in biology, chemistry, and other related fields under my belt, I couldn’t help resist the urge to check out this website. When I did, I checked out the site and was blown away by the misrepresentation of science they were displaying. So I decided to contact them with a non-confrontational email to see how they would respond. Here’s the initial contact last year:

Jehovahs Witness Masturbation Video fully translated.

Firefly’s 15 Best Chinese Curses (and How to Say Them)

A bonus for the geek in all of us.

News And Links For Atheists: Westboro Baptist Church Military Protest Countered By Zombie Demonstrators

VIDEO: Westboro Baptist Church Military Protest Countered By Zombie Demonstrators

Publisher Pulls Controversial Thomas Jefferson Book, Citing Loss Of Confidence

The controversial book was written by Texas evangelical David Barton, who NPR’s Barbara Bradley Hagerty profiled on All Things Considered Wednesday. The publishing company says it’s ceasing publication because it found that “basic truths just were not there.”

And a related article…

The Most Influential Evangelist You’ve Never Heard Of : NPR

Christian Bigots Trying to Claim Persecution

Christian Bigotry is still Bigotry

I have not yet weighed in on the Chick-fil-A situation. I had not planned to do so. Two things changed that, a blog I read last night on CNN’s Belief Blogs by R. Albert Mohler Jr. titled “My Take: Chick-fil-A controversy reveals religious liberty under threat” and an article on the Charisma News titled Chick-fil-A Breaks World Sales Record After Hateful Attacks. These two articles together have created a need for me to weigh in.

Israeli scholar completes mission to ‘fix’ Bible

His edits, focusing primarily on grammatical blemishes and an intricate set of biblical symbols, mark the first major overhaul of the Hebrew Bible in nearly 500 years.

Mimi Faust’s Mother, Olaiya Odufunke: Her Life in Scientology’s Secret Service

Is Richard Dawkins a bully?

New fossils from Koobi Fora in northern Kenya confirm taxonomic diversity in early Homo

Fun Facts about the Preaching Work of Jehovah’s Witnesses

I know the author. He’s solid. 🙂

Is Christian Evangelism Really As Selfless As Evangelists Would Have Us Believe?

Preacher preachingWhy do I dislike evangelism so much? Regular visitors to Atheist Geek News have surely figured out by now that I don’t suffer evangelists well. Especially aggressive evangelists. I have written about some of the mistakes that evangelists (especially Jehovah’s Witnesses) have made when trying to convert me in the past. But it isn’t just the behavior of evangelists that I take issue with. It’s also about the motives that Christian evangelism promotes in those who preach it to others.

Motives are an area that I usually avoid, especially since it’s all too easy to impose negative motives to a group you don’t like or whose actions you don’t like. So before someone says it, I’m not claiming that I can read minds. I admit that I could be 100% wrong. I acknowledge that people are complex individuals who don’t always fully understand their own motives, let alone those of others. So it isn’t fair to simply assert that I know – beyond all doubt – what’s going in the minds of another individual. I’ve had far too many religious people pretend that they know my motives for becoming an atheist, or an ex-Witness, to throw that one at you.

Fishers of men

There’s a reason why none of the fish are biting.

But, as a former Jehovah’s Witness turned atheist, I’ve been on the inside and the outside of Christian evangelism. My world view has been challenged over the years by Jehovah’s Witnesses, Pentecostals, Baptists, Mormons, and Gideons. Not to mention others on the internet. So while I don’t claim to have magical powers, I do think that I’m well informed on the topic and that my conclusions are reasonable. As we shall see, I also think that the bad behavior so often exhibited by evangelists is very telling.

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