there are 1,069,530 publishers in america.
notice the growth spurt at the beginning of 2006. the last month of the service year shows an increase of 2.3%.
this year and/or next year may very well show jehovah's witnesses as the fastest growing religion in america once again.. .
Slimboy,
With that said, the graph is misleading and should be labled correctly. If they are making a claim of numbers for December 2005, they can't list the numbers being for December 2006 when it fact the numbers are for 2005. It's a poorly constructed graph.
Thanks
there are 1,069,530 publishers in america.
notice the growth spurt at the beginning of 2006. the last month of the service year shows an increase of 2.3%.
this year and/or next year may very well show jehovah's witnesses as the fastest growing religion in america once again.. .
Joker,
In your graph for the "Lower 48 States" you indicate a number of publishers for December 2006, but since this month is not yet over, how did your sources obtain this figure?
Thanks,
NYCkid
does anyone know anything about this organization.. i am aware that they dont have any religious faith but thats about all.
i have read some quotes of theirs in the newspapers and they seem to be reasonable.. any web links etc?.
thanks..
I agree with Gregor that most reasonable humans aspire to humanistic. Just google and you'll find alot of information. Here's some info below. Albert Camus, one of my favorite authors was a Humanist and I think alot of humanist ideas were taken from John Stuart Mill's "On Liberty" which I recommend anyone reading. His argument parallels a lot of our issues as exiting JWs in terms of individuality and individual freedoms, seeking truth and avoiding harming others.
What attracts me most to humanism is their stand on human rights and the idea that through reason, many of the world's problems can be solved. In my opinion, religion in general is the antithesis of humanism and as such is the cause of most of our problems (but that's just me).
Enjoy your journey..............
Secular Humanism is a non-theistically based philosophy which promotes humanity as the measure of all things. It had its roots in the rationalism of the 18th Century and the free thought movement of the 19th Century.
Some factors that most Humanists share:
 | Either they do not believe in the existence of a deity, or they don't really care about the topic. |
| They believe that excellent codes of behavior and morality can be created through reason. |
| Humans created the Gods and Goddesses in their own image. |
| They are very concerned about human rights and equal opportunities for all. |
| They tend to be at the liberal end of the spectrum on such controversial topics as abortion access; equal rights for gays, lesbians and bisexuals; same-sex marriage, physician assisted suicide, separation of church and state, etc. |
about a week ago i had my little meeting with "the bobs" (yuk yuk), and i got the whole thing digitally recorded.
it's available online, along with a written transcript here...
http://www.ichthusstudios.org/cults/jw/
Thanks for the recording it was an interesting and brought me back to my own fun judicial meeting, albeit quite different. I particularly enjoyed the line, "We'll dismiss you if we don't feel comfortable being in your presence."
I agree with Once an Elder that both you and they had an agenda at the meeting but the recording confirms that JW doctrine places loyalty to "the organization" above anything else. It's very "1984" in that regard...eeeeek.
NYCkid
in a reading for one of my college classes, i came across a passage which i immediately thought i'd share with my friends on this board:.
"truth gains more even by the errors of one who, with due study and preparation, thinks for himself, than by the true opinions of those who only hold them because they do not suffer themselves to think...there have been, and may again be, great individual thinkers, in a general atmosphere of mental slavery.
but there never has been, nor ever will be, in that atmosphere, an intellectually active people.".
Hey,
The reading is for a Intro to Western Political Theory class. For a former JW, it's been interesting and we have reviewed, Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke and Kant so far. Marx is next week, can't wait....LOL
J - I agree with you, however I think that very few people can attain that level of disassociation from thought. Personally I would love to in the future.
I have to read more on Mill, but I think the gist of what he's saying so far is that truth is not fixed and is evolutionary and that the individual has the capability to search for truth for him or her self and it the search is different for everyone. He talks alot about Christianity, Protestanism, Evangicalism and the Roman Catholic Church and how during the 19th century, disallow dissent. I think that's where I made the connection with my JW past.
Anyway, thanks for your thoughts.
NYCkid
in a reading for one of my college classes, i came across a passage which i immediately thought i'd share with my friends on this board:.
"truth gains more even by the errors of one who, with due study and preparation, thinks for himself, than by the true opinions of those who only hold them because they do not suffer themselves to think...there have been, and may again be, great individual thinkers, in a general atmosphere of mental slavery.
but there never has been, nor ever will be, in that atmosphere, an intellectually active people.".
In a reading for one of my college classes, I came across a passage which I immediately thought I'd share with my friends on this board:
"Truth gains more even by the errors of one who, with due study and preparation, thinks for himself, than by the true opinions of those who only hold them because they do not suffer themselves to think...There have been, and may again be, great individual thinkers, in a general atmosphere of mental slavery. But there never has been, nor ever will be, in that atmosphere, an intellectually active people."
John Stuart Mill (19th Century Philospher) - On Liberty,Chapter II, "Liberty of Thought and Discussion"
Now back to my reading...
Best,
NYCkid
naperville, dekalb, joliet......... il.
i tried to bump an old thread on this topic, but i couldn't find it.. anyone?
beuller?.
My turn.....Cranford, NJ from 1990 - 1993 or 1994 (can't remember when I left, it's a blur). Would love to re-connect with anyone in Cranford or Clark, NJ during that time.
Best,
NYCkid
hey all, i'm new to the board, and happy to have found it.
i'm going to college for the first time (i'm 25 yrs old).
does anyone have any advice on how to handle the challenge?
I'm attending college at age 35 in NYC and am pursuing a B.A. in writing-literature. My advice is just to have fun and take classes that you enjoy. Not sure what your JW status is but getting involved in groups that interest you is a good way to meet people and network. I'm finding that one of the most valuable aspects to attending college is networking with others and using your school's career office as much as possible (for internships, career/major guidance etc). Also try to strive for academic excellence because even more doors open up for you (as well as assists you to win scholarship money).
What is your major or have you decided yet?
Best,
NYCkid
hi.. after lurking for a number of months i have decided to join in and hopefully connect with a few people who will know what it has been like to grow up as me.
i left the truth a number of years ago for two reasons, one of which was my sexuality, which i knew to be unacceptable to my brothers and sisters.
since then i have alone in my isolation, hopefully through this site i can rectify that.
So you have partner of 9 years? That's great. My partner and I will celebrate our 9th anniversary next March. I can relate to what you said about connecting with other gays. When I first came out (of both JWs and gay) around 23 ys old, the "lifestyle" (I hate to call it that) was very exciting and alot of fun. I really don't have any regrets other than that it distracted me from attending college right away. But even though it was fun, I never really connected with people on a deep level, partly because I'm shy, because of my JW upbringing and because much of that lifestyle is superficial. It does get easier.
Sorry your partner doesn't like talking about your JW past. That's an important part of who you are. I do know there's alot of gay and lesbian ex-JWs in England who chat on the A Common Bond yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/acbgroup/
Best wishes,
Regards,
NYCkid
hi.. after lurking for a number of months i have decided to join in and hopefully connect with a few people who will know what it has been like to grow up as me.
i left the truth a number of years ago for two reasons, one of which was my sexuality, which i knew to be unacceptable to my brothers and sisters.
since then i have alone in my isolation, hopefully through this site i can rectify that.
Ben,
I can relate somewhat, I am gay and was raised a JW. Although I had difficulty with not being allowed to attend college, I was a uber young JW, always willing to serve and pioneered and was a M.S. and volunteered at assemblies and quickbuilds and occasionally had parts at the assemblies proclaiming how "good" I was. I had many good friends and was always included in social functions. Looking back however, I realized that for the most part, I had feelings that I didn't belong. Sterotypically, I was never good at sports (e.g. basketball and football - the brothers were actually very nice about it) except for skiing and tennis and I preferred to hang out with the "sisters" and have a flair for entertaining and baking.
Frankly if I wasn't gay, I'd probably still be a JW, have 3 or 4 kids by now and working at dead end job (judging from the outcome of many of my old JW friends). Therefore acting on my inherent sexuality was liberating for me in more ways than one.
Feel free to hit me up if you want to chat. There's also a int'l online support network called A Common Bond for former and current JWs who identify as being lesbian, gay, bi and transgendered.
Best,
NYCkid
