For those familiar with the cult of "Jehovah's Witnesses" (JW) you will know that they publish a regular little magazine called "Awake", it's a simplistic publication aimed at conveying a childish message of part Biblical literalism and part messianic doomsday cultism, I've read a lot of them. Years ago I used to work with a JW he was a lovely chap but had been suckered into the cult in his youth and couldn't shake it off. He used to leave these pamphlets lying around on his desk and occasionally use them as "argument" fodder for his hopelessly delusional world-view.
We used to debate evolution and science frequently, he never had a convincing argument against any of it, he even admitted to being swayed to the point of seriously questioning his faith, but the hooks were in too deep, the cultural ties too difficult to unravel; dissenters were viewed as outcasts by his "flock". It was with some degree of nostalgia that I came across a recent edition of the Awake magazine recently, it reminded me of those times and tweaked my interest nerve even further when I noticed that they were talking about me!
It's organised as a series of short pieces about various topics, the first one reflected the subject of the headline, addressing the rise of the "new atheists" (or gnu atheists as we like to be known) it starts off by saying,
"A new group of atheists has arisen in society. Called the new atheists, they are not content to keep their views to themselves. Rather, they are on a crusade, “actively, angrily, passionately trying to persuade the religious to their point of view"
Now bear in mind this is from a Christian cult who's claim to fame is that they send people door to door interrupting your Saturday morning to "tell you the good news" (hint: it's neither good nor news!). Here they are complaining that Atheists have the temerity to actually state what their views are, clearly and with conviction, whatever next? the Pope arrested for colluding with paedophiles?
The edition goes on to parrot many centuries old and long debunked arguments (as it always did), the argument from design, eyes can't evolve by chance, Hitler was an Atheist, the Bible is inerrant, morality comes from religion and so on, the list is a classic who's who of stupidity. After all those failed prophecies and universal ridicule for their wacky beliefs it's hard to believe that JW's fall for this rubbish any more, but they clearly do. In my experience, and probably like most cults honesty and facts are not important to them, they seem to thrive only because of peer pressure, fear and most of all blind, ignorant faith.
3 comments:
Yeah, I'm drowning in the hypocrisy. Those people used to bother me when I was a teenager. I was too polite to tell them they were full of it (thank goodness I've outgrown that), so I would argue sense to their nonsense, but their was always some unfalsifiable "truth" that governed the various inconsistencies in their story (it's god's will - people cannot understand the will of god - those are my favourites). I quickly tired of it all and just learned to not answer the door when they came to waste my time.
But now I get to laugh at their upset at the atheists who no longer feign interest in their nonsense, quietly nodding their heads, planning an escape route, but who instead point out the glaring problems in what they say.
Is that what we look like? those grey-faced men in the cover shot? I'm sure when I'm out marching with my Atheist signs around Reading I don't look so grim.
Hi Lisa, it's like spam e-mails I suppose, if you get one person out of a million who falls for it then they probably think of their pathetic proselytising as successful; doesn't say much for the power of their "message" though does it, British Gas do a lot better!
E, we are suppose to be grey and nihilistic, no hope and no purpose in our lives, oh and we eat babies of course.
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