Posts by DJS

The following is a letter to the editor from this morning's local newspaper. I haven't vetted any of this, and I don't know the writer of it. And I haven't a clue if these stats are correct. Enjoy.

"The godless commit less crime, have longer marriages and are more highly educated than almost any other group in America.

According to Federal Bureau of Prisons data, the number of responding people in prison acknowledging they were Catholic was 39 percent; Protestant, 35 percent; Muslim, 7 percent; Jewish, 2 percent; and godless, 0.2 percent (20 percent did not respond).

Since the number of godless is estimated to be 10 percent of the general population, all things being equal you would expect their prison population to be 10 percent.

If, as many people assume, the godless do not lead moral lives, you would expect the number to be greater than 10 percent. The fact that the actual number is 50 times less than expected can lead to only one of two conclusions: either the godless commit less crime than the religious or they’re too smart to get caught very often.

According to a Barna Research Group report, fundamentalist Christians have the highest divorce rate, followed by Jews and Baptists. The godless are tied with Catholics and Lutherans for the lowest divorce rate. It seems that some groups that claim to follow the Bible most strictly are not putting their money where their mouths are. The godless who are thought to be without morals seem to take their vows more seriously.

According to a Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life Survey, the least-educated Americans are Jehovah’s Witnesses, followed by black Protestants and fundamentalist Christians. The most highly educated are reformed Jews, followed by Unitarian Universalists and the godless.

Some groups seem to like their flocks ignorant so that pastors’ interpretations of God’s edicts are not questioned. Other groups prize scholarship and achieve more in their lives here on Earth.

In fact, a review of worldwide studies found that criminality and religion go hand in hand. The countries with the most religious people have the highest crime rates, highest sexually transmitted diseases and the highest teen pregnancy rates.

This is also true in the United States. The more religious a state’s population, the higher the crime, STD and teen pregnancy rates. The report does say that the religious are happier than the secular but posits that the ostracism of the latter may be a major cause.

So what conclusion can be reached? It is obvious that you do not have to believe in a higher power in order to live a moral and successful life. Quite the opposite.

I won’t attempt to claim a correlation of religion with crime, infidelity and ignorance. However, it is total hypocrisy for those in such groups to claim that the godless are not and cannot be moral. Yet in a recent study atheists were believed to be no more trustworthy than rapists.

In spite of this easily obtained information, the groups with the highest crime rate, the poorest marriages and the lowest education continually strive to force their beliefs on the nonreligious. And the politicians pander to them. Why else would they pass laws to put religion in the schools and on courthouse facades? And then they wonder why the godless could possibly be upset."

94

Who I really am, my story on YOUTUBE!

by Gojira_101 in

jw
friends

the death of a jw and the birth of me the apostate.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2lwgowdpj8.

a huge thanks to my friend ray publisher (jwstruggle) for posting my video for me.

now that i am no longer held prisoner from the fear of watchtower, i can now help others!.

DJS

Well done. I know the WT has taken a lot from you, but you have an entire life and world ahead of you now. Live it. You are young, attractive intelligent and capable of doing whatever you want in life. Go(Girl)Jira!

69

Atheism and the delusion of meaning

by Laika in

jw
friends

in the movie annie hall, written by woody allen, as a young boy, alvy's mother, takes him to see a doctor as he appears to be dealing with some kind of depression.

when the doctor asks alvy what's up, alvy explains that he just found out the universe is expanding, everything will spread out and go cold and die, therefore nothing he does matters, so he is not going to do anything anymore.

most people might see this as a joke, but i think woody is trying to make a serious point.. the point here is about meaning.

DJS

There are some excellent reponses to what I view as an absurbe premise. It doesn't really deserve a response. So I won't.

31

How much have you changed as a person ?

by Phizzy in

jw
friends

i was a born-in, and in for over five decades.

in the comparatively short time since leaving the wt for good, for good in both senses !

, i feel i have become a very different person, in quite radical ways.. how do you feel you have changed ?.

DJS

I like myself much more than I did as a JW, and the primary reason is that I no longer judge others. The WT world is primarily about judging - those on the outside and (like a guppy eating its own) those on the inside. I am more open minded, accepting and tolerant. I don't worry about always having to be right or prove my point (shove the WT down someone's throat). And I don't waste my time on useless arguments about religioin or politics (typically). I have already made a few exceptions on this site!

I have also found that I am more aggressive, more wiling to take a few risks. This is who I have always been but I buried it under WWJD and the passive turn the other cheek mindset of the WT.

18

Any JWs on here that still believe?

by cognac in

jw
friends

it would be nice to start a thread with those people to reason things over in the bible.

no name calling, no putting others down, etc.

it would be nice to show this to my husband without him seeing things like, "if you were a real jw, you would not be on here to begin with.

DJS

Wow,

SnareandRacket that was an amazing but factual rant. Are you a lawyer because if not you missed your calling. Somewhere between Cognac and SnareandRacket lies, hopefully, a middle ground. Everything Snare said is true and it explains the anger and some of the less than kind words used. But I exited the WT two decades ago and briefly participated in an on-line forum about 15 years ago comprised of ex-JWs. (xjw hint). As much as I hated everything about the WT as described by Snare, it still pained me to see individuals use disparaging words. We can do both on this forum. It will benefit the newbies, the lurkers and those who still have a Christian based belief system. Perhaps most importatnly, it will beneifit us individually.

As part of my post-JW studies I learned that everything in life starts with language. If has been the most powerful tool for thousands of years to motivate and control. And using degoratory or pejorative adjectives about anything, whether it is a race, a political party, an individual or a religion, is the first slippery slope step to other bad things. The JW leadership knows this all too well. Their words brand, stigmatize, demoralize and needlessly judge. I hate them for that more than anything; but I try not to emulate them.

18

Any JWs on here that still believe?

by cognac in

jw
friends

it would be nice to start a thread with those people to reason things over in the bible.

no name calling, no putting others down, etc.

it would be nice to show this to my husband without him seeing things like, "if you were a real jw, you would not be on here to begin with.

DJS

Ditto. Civility and respect should be guding principles of this site and of our participation.

52

OK so if the Bible is crap??

by Crazyguy in

jw
friends

ok so if the bible is nothing more then a pagan religious book, then how do all of you that think this, think we got here?

and please don't tell me you believe in evolution, because even the experts are finding major flaws in that theory.

so what is your opinion??

DJS

I don't understand why some continue to ask what else is there if the Bible or Christianity isn't the answer. Life. Living. Thinking. Enjoying. The same things we did when we believed in the god of the Bible, only we can do these things in a much more fulfiling manner with Freedom of thought and action without worrying about a carrot and stick vengeful god who will destroy us forever if we don't believe in the 21st Century interpretation of a book written thousands of years ago. Which, by the way, has a multitude of ever changing interpretations, even by those who claim special knowledge. Geesh. This makes evolution make more and more sense.

Look at it this way. If the god of the Bible did make the universe and everything in it and has that much power and awesomeness and then the BEST HE COULD DO as far as giving us a little bit of decent advice is the Bible? Really?

52

OK so if the Bible is crap??

by Crazyguy in

jw
friends

ok so if the bible is nothing more then a pagan religious book, then how do all of you that think this, think we got here?

and please don't tell me you believe in evolution, because even the experts are finding major flaws in that theory.

so what is your opinion??

DJS

I don't know and I gave up caring a long time ago. Science makes more sense to me; the Bible spin makes none. I read a very good quote from a well known atheist recently. He noted that if we wiped out all existing knowledge of both science and relgion and started over from scratch that religion would look very different but science wouldn't change a bit. That kinda sums it up for me.

The Bible is, to me, simply the Jewish 'spin." I have respect for it but I also have respect for Buddha's writings and others that pre-date the Jewish/Christian belief system.

If there truly was a god or gods that cared about us as his/her/its children, I would think that they/it/he/she would have made things a LOT DA$$ clearer than they are in the Bible or any other relgous book.

But I put this to "bed" a long time ago and have used my energies for most positive pursuits.

43

Fading ... and Feeling Lost

by What Now? in

prior to that we had been in a new congregation for about 9 months, and we were just irregular.

my husband rarely went, and i would go occasionally with our toddler son just enough to show our faces and keep the elders off our backs, and for the sake of some friendships in our old hall.

all of the reasons i had for going were just no longer important.

DJS

Dear Fading,

I understand what you are going through. My exit almost 2 decades ago was handled much differently but with the same end result. Friends and family are gone with the wind. But please trust me this is VERY temporary. You have the rest of your life to grow, experience, live and find new friends and interests. And you will. Right now is just something to get through. If I had participated on this forum 20 years ago my responses would be somewhat similar, but I tried as best I could to hit the ground running and never look back.

Enjoy life. Make new friends. Explore yourself and what you want out of life and chart a new course. The journey will be fun and well worth it. Good luck.