this topic was inspired by one of fhn's comments on the 'warzone' thread, so i'll just restate my post there .
.. "i've been wondering for a while now if ridicule really is an unacceptable feature in debate - it certainly isn't a valid form of argumentation.
the thing is, some individuals really do come out with the most laughable nonsense and parade it as a serious proposition that merits attention.
Nicolau: Ridicule will never be the first tool I go to but it has its place. And no, ridiculing ideas is not the same as ridiculing people
Exactly.
The problem is, so many people personally identify with ideas that when those ideas are ridiculed they believe that they have been ridiculed.
this topic was inspired by one of fhn's comments on the 'warzone' thread, so i'll just restate my post there .
.. "i've been wondering for a while now if ridicule really is an unacceptable feature in debate - it certainly isn't a valid form of argumentation.
the thing is, some individuals really do come out with the most laughable nonsense and parade it as a serious proposition that merits attention.
this photo can be found in the april 15 , study edition article titled:.
why disfellowshipping is a loving provision.
just by looking at this image we can see how quickly the barrier between the congregation and former member is put up, after the announcement that this sister is no longer one of jehovah's witneses.
Shunning and ostracism is one of the worst things one human being can do to another; it is second only to physical torture.
It is worse even the murder.
http://www.watchtower.exposed/?p=658
This is just wrong on so many levels!
i'm not naming names, but i just want to encourage people on here or on reddit or twitter, and tell you that you do not have to tolerate people who act like schoolyard bullies in the way they speak to you online.
i think anonymity is a big part of it.
they feel like there is zero accountability so they can be a bully all they want.. i recommend just ignoring or blocking anyone who is verbally abusive or treats you like schoolyard bullies treated you.. life is way too short to spend any time dealing with those kinds of people..
HMTM, If you will note I said "in the future". Do you honestly believe there is no possibility that at some point in the future when religion has become a stench to many more than it already has and is then blamed for a great war, or whatever, that there will not be some who will take action against a religious family in their town or church in their city?
Oh, please.
You've seen too many dystopian movies.
Who knows what "might happen" in the future. And even if there are "some who will take action against a religious family" that wouldn't be anything like the thousands of years of institutionalized atrocities committed by theists of varying designation.
You are confused on so many levels it's hard to know where to begin to address your delusions.
We don't know what may happen, but we certainly do know what has and is happening. And, as investment companies like to say, "while past performance does not guarantee future results," there is a pretty strong historical basis for dismissing your post-apocalyptic persecution fantasy as the delusion that it is.
Seriously. Get some help.
so, many of y'all know bits and pieces of my story of waking up, but i thought it might be nice to have it all in one place.. i was baptized at 11, auxiliary pioneered every summer, regular pioneer at 17, ministerial servant by 19, then went to bethel for a year.. i always had minor doubts from time to time, but nothing serious.
always dismissed doubts and decided to "just have faith.".
after leaving bethel, i was never really firing on all cylinders "spiritually speaking.
Cappytan: I told my wife the other day that I probably could have gotten over my doubts if the Society didn't put so much emphasis on calling the organization "the Truth." Equating the organization with that word "truth" was something I couldn't get over when I found things that were obviously NOT true.
I think the word you really want is not "equate," but rather conflate:
so, many of y'all know bits and pieces of my story of waking up, but i thought it might be nice to have it all in one place.. i was baptized at 11, auxiliary pioneered every summer, regular pioneer at 17, ministerial servant by 19, then went to bethel for a year.. i always had minor doubts from time to time, but nothing serious.
always dismissed doubts and decided to "just have faith.".
after leaving bethel, i was never really firing on all cylinders "spiritually speaking.
Cappytan: There's this big elephant in the room, and I can't talk about it because I don't want to be shunned.
Proceed with extreme caution!
so, many of y'all know bits and pieces of my story of waking up, but i thought it might be nice to have it all in one place.. i was baptized at 11, auxiliary pioneered every summer, regular pioneer at 17, ministerial servant by 19, then went to bethel for a year.. i always had minor doubts from time to time, but nothing serious.
always dismissed doubts and decided to "just have faith.".
after leaving bethel, i was never really firing on all cylinders "spiritually speaking.
Cappytan: Dominos started falling ...
Thanks for sharing your bio. It's interesting that there are so many different issues that can start a person questioning and doubting. What starts one of us down that path might be different than what gets another person to start waking up. But, whatever it is that starts the process, once it begins, the dominoes do begin to fall.
You pull on one thread and the whole thing unravels.
This is what was so shocking to me when I began to realize I was in a false religion: it wasn't just that there were one or two minor flaws, it was that pretty much EVERYTHING about it was wrong.
Then you go through a process of confusion, anger, rage and even embarrassment. Yes, it is humiliating to acknowledge that you've been duped.
The good news is that we have woken up.
It gets better.
i'm not naming names, but i just want to encourage people on here or on reddit or twitter, and tell you that you do not have to tolerate people who act like schoolyard bullies in the way they speak to you online.
i think anonymity is a big part of it.
they feel like there is zero accountability so they can be a bully all they want.. i recommend just ignoring or blocking anyone who is verbally abusive or treats you like schoolyard bullies treated you.. life is way too short to spend any time dealing with those kinds of people..
Simon, No amount of criticism will even come close to the evil that religion has inflicted on the innocent over the years.
I think you meant: No amount of criticism will even come close to the evil that religion has inflicted on the innocent over the millennia!
i'm not naming names, but i just want to encourage people on here or on reddit or twitter, and tell you that you do not have to tolerate people who act like schoolyard bullies in the way they speak to you online.
i think anonymity is a big part of it.
they feel like there is zero accountability so they can be a bully all they want.. i recommend just ignoring or blocking anyone who is verbally abusive or treats you like schoolyard bullies treated you.. life is way too short to spend any time dealing with those kinds of people..
But it also true that today's new atheism is creating an atmosphere where in the future, if it were not for government standing in the way, the religious would be drawn and quartered by some who are just as evil as those pictured above.
OK, that's just ridiculous.
Atheists don't burn people at the stake or torture them because they aren't atheists. That's just absurd.
Provide some evidence for such unfounded assertions or stop making them.
