Jehovah`s Witness`s!..
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...OUTLAW
"Do You Think They Are Extremist Publications?" Well, Yes!
by metatron 18 Replies latest jw friends
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CoonDawg
I understand where you are coming from, Mad Sweeney, but I still can't say that it justifies overriding the priciple of freedom of speech or the freedom of choice. There will always be fringe groups that have outlandish teaching with possibly bad consequences for the followers, but who gets to determine what is extreme or outside the mainstream? I don't have a religious dog in the fight - in fact, I'm an atheist. This isn't a religious matter, but a legal one that is aimed at the very heart of what it means to be an individual. Should the Russian government be able to lable another group as extremist because they don't like their laws. Maybe next it could be Hassidic Jews that are considered to have extremist content in their literature. How about the Holiness Pentacostal denominations? They talk quite a bit about hell...maybe that's extreme to some government official. All I'm saying is that, no matter how glad I am to no longer be a JW, having an Orwellian government deem that they cannot exercise their right to stupidity in choice of religion or lifestyle is going too far.
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james_woods
All I'm saying is that, no matter how glad I am to no longer be a JW, having an Orwellian government deem that they cannot exercise their right to stupidity in choice of religion or lifestyle is going too far.
+1,000,000.
As I have posted before, freedom of religion and freedom of speech can be a very hard trail to ride.
But, practically nobody would really want to live any other way.
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metatron
Ok, so most of us don't favor a 'nanny state' government that legislates against stupidity...... but what about fraud?
Should we allow guys like Bernie Madoff to run free because we say his investors were stupid?
I see no moral difference between Madoff taking lifesavings and Jehovah's Witnesses wasting people's lives based on lies like 'Armageddon Soon!
metatron
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Retrovirus
There is a distinction between "labelling them extremist" (fair enough, IMHO) and banning the religion (not only draconian but likely to backfire as it fuels their of persecution)
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CoonDawg
Yes, but I'm talking about banning the books too. I mean, banning books is simply counterproductive. In the words of Milton from Aeropagitica:
The worthy man, loath to give offence, fell into a new debate with himself what was to be thought; when suddenly a vision sent from God (it is his own epistle that so avers it) confirmed him in these words: READ ANY BOOKS WHATEVER COME TO THY HANDS, FOR THOU ART SUFFICIENT BOTH TO JUDGE ARIGHT AND TO EXAMINE EACH MATTER. To this revelation he assented the sooner, as he confesses, because it was answerable to that of the Apostle to the Thessalonians, PROVE ALL THINGS, HOLD FAST THAT WHICH IS GOOD. And he might have added another remarkable saying of the same author: TO THE PURE, ALL THINGS ARE PURE; not only meats and drinks, but all kind of knowledge whether of good or evil; the knowledge cannot defile, nor consequently the books, if the will and conscience be not defiled.
For books are as meats and viands are; some of good, some of evil substance; and yet God, in that unapocryphal vision, said without exception, RISE, PETER, KILL AND EAT, leaving the choice to each man's discretion. Wholesome meats to a vitiated stomach differ little or nothing from unwholesome; and best books to a naughty mind are not unappliable to occasions of evil.
As all of us here know, their own literature is the best argument against them. Why ban the books?
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Retrovirus
Great quote, Coondawg, and I'm against banning any books too. Is that what the Russian government wants to do? Dopes!
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CoonDawg
I love John Milton. We read Aeropagitica for a class last spring. It was a real eye opener. Milton was affiliated with opposition that tried to depose the king of England in the 1600s. His writing of an anti-censorship tome such as this at that time, when you could literally lose your head for it, is AMAZING! This quote isn't even the best part. It's definitely recommended reading, IMO.
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factfinder
@OUTLAW-
Thank you-excellent post!
I loved Lost In Space -it was one of my favorite shows! And The Robot and Will Robinson, (not to mention Dr. Smith!) were my favorite characters on that show!