^ I stand by my interpretation. Maher makes a non-believer 'centric speech
that anyone who belongs to a religion, believes in God, is different than him,
is someone who doesn't think, is a bigot, etc., and will cause us to die (Arma-
geddon).
There are believers and non-believers who deserve such criticism, even get on
lists of abominations, and believers and non-believers who don't, even philan-
thropic ones. Liberal believers who understand faith as such, keep up to speed
about the known (evolution, etc.), and don't want harm or bigotry over belief/
non-belief things, don't deserve his mischaracterization. If not wanting harm
is the real motive, I recommend the believers and non-believers agree to not
like the harm caused by other believers and non-believers.
Maher's ironically bigoted speech, like the JWs leaders' material about non-
JWs, come with the same pretense of being better informed yet misuses the re-
search material. Any research at all shows believers may be orthodox, conserva-
tive, liberal, or progressive/reform, and the latter end of that range is very
different from the former in regard to the points Maher brings up about harm
caused.
I'm sure he must know that but mischaracterizes all believers by the worst of
fundamentalist literalist misinformation or harm, which is useful for pandering
to 'centric non-believers and marketing to them.
The 'centric ham-handed broadside swing from behind a wall of alienation
doesn't make for relationships and sharing of ideas and changing people's minds,
it's more like JWs leaders' extreme stance on those to be shunned. It's not a
way to dispel harm but add to it. It's not a sincere outlook but a cynical be-
liever or non-believer businessman's way to pander, like the JWs leaders except
to a different marketing group.
Likewise, Farrakhan's affected Afrocentric exclusiveness is at the root of
his phoney claims the same as the JWs leaders claim of being spokespeople for a
literal 144,000 leads them to misuse research material, force points, omit per-
tinent evidence, mischaracterize others, to feign their exclusiveness. Keeping
that focus about them or Farrakhan reliably leads to a wealth of material for an
objective expose.
One example: the last time I saw Farrakahn on YouTube, he reeled off a dozen
or so 9 11 truther claims, including how they lead anyone who investigates them
to the temple of Satan, by which he meant the Jews. Anyone could use the Google
search engine and find multiple rebuttals to all those claims, or check out the
research books the JWs leaders quote from, find the views of those they mis-
characterize or evidence they omit, etc., and know better. Like the JWs leaders,
he's not even a sincere bigot but just a cynical businessman who panders to
bigotry.
"I have a friend that has recently confided in me his doubts about the
society being God's one and only organization....how would you combat that
thinking?" Like that.
http://gtw6437.tripod.com/index.html
