Comments on: How an Amazonian tribe turned a missionary into an atheist

By: Godless Linguist « ฝรั่งงง

Godless Linguist « ฝรั่งงง — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:39:15 +0000

[...] a Comment My interests in linguistics and atheism rarely coincide, but the other day I came across this post at the Freethinker website regarding a book by linguist and atheist Dan Everett. Daniel [...]

By: Fábio de Oliveira Ribeiro

Fábio de Oliveira Ribeiro — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:22:15 +0000

This proof that Brazil was really a paradise.
And it is this again, since we Brazilians expel the
American missionaries that continue believing
in god and destroying the happiness of the Indians.

By: Ginger

Ginger — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 03:17:29 +0000

This is the best story about a Christian missionary I've ever heard.

By: Bridge

Bridge — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:56:18 +0000

There is much to be learned from traditional cultures; and this learning needs to be done with respect, dignity and an open heart.

My experience of working as a Christian missionary amongst the Warlpiri people was that my faith has been strengthened as the Old People exposed me to their secret/sacred knowledge. That knowledge meshed perfectly with my knowledge of the One True God gained from my study of the Bible.

Upon my departure from the community that I was working in, most of the community embraced me and wept upon my shoulders because our lives had been so enmeshed in our common faith, mine expressed through my understandings of the nature of Jesus, revealed to me through the pages of the Bible; and theirs expressed through their understanding of the nature of Jesus as expressed through their culture, learned from their observations of the Creation around them.

When the mob come into town from out of the bush, they go straight to my home to stay with our family. When I go back into the bush, I am welcomed as an important member of the extended family. Mutual love and respect – and this is the essence of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, whose Atoning self-Sacrifice was to make one new humanity out of a fragmented world.

Ngula-juku!

By: Bob

Bob — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:22:44 +0000

Heh – the “No True Scotsman” contingent of believers has shown up and is ready to party! The contorted apologetics are simultaneously amazing, baffling, and more than a little sad.

By: RiHo08

RiHo08 — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 01:14:57 +0000

We invoke spirituality to answer the question “why am I here?” Religion codifies spirituality with teachings and rituals. The up side of religion is group self re-inforcement, ala Alcoholic Anonymous. Evangelism seeks to recruit others as a form of validation for one’s belief system. The down side of religion is social manipulation and control. We are told that animals do not have the capability for spirituality as they cannot fore see into the future. Animals all are God’s creations but man is the only chosen one. More likely than not, we just can’t measure what animals are thinking and hence discount their intellect. For those who are not interest in answering for themselves the question “why am I here?”, there may be several choices: organized religion with its prescriptions; seek spirituality on some other already beaten path; or simply consider the question irrelevant for oneself. I think the observed decline in organized religion participation is a vote for the latter option.

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:12:21 +0000

Don’t quote Wikipedia for anything. It lacks journalistic professionalism. In your case of “was having serious doubts,” a far better reference would be the [5] footnote at the end of that sentence referencing an interview featured in New Scientist.

I enjoyed your article, and enjoy Freethinker as a whole, but want you to hold your sources to the same standard professors hold their students when making research citations.

By: MRB

MRB — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:39:54 +0000

I, for one, was baptist for much of my life. My best friend was the son of a pastor. I got baptised after my mother died. When they moved, I didn’t have a church to go to, and I learned to think on my own. About 2 years ago I went to another church. Nice folks, or so it seemed. I think it was the second or third service I attended the pastor chose the subject of love. At the end of the service he starts talking about homosexuals and how they’re causing the end of the world. I’ll tell you what, that was the last time I attended. How can you teach love to your people and turn around to only preach hate and segregation?

I don’t consider myself baptist anymore- which makes this joke even funnier to me. “I had a dream I was walking in heaven with Jesus talking about the meaning of life. I spotted a group sleeping in a corner and asked Jesus who they are. Jesus says,”Shhh.. Those are baptists. They think they’re the only ones here.”

I had the faith, I lost it, I tried to gain it back, and lost it again. I’ve read the bible, and to tell the truth… I don’t see any alters from which to sacrifice sheep

There are a lot of “What Ifs” floating around. The truth is that you have to find it for yourself. If your truth is your faith, then so be it. Whether you follow the old testament, new testament, koran, etc, etc- it’s all up to you. If you want good analogy, listen to some of George Carlin’s material.

Peace.

By: brought up religious

brought up religious — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 06:53:10 +0000

Several people have made the claim that no one is forced into Christianity, and that it is always a choice.

I’d contend that being given the options of believing in — or pretending to believe in — a religion, or being disowned by family and outcast from one’s social network is not much of a choice.

By: Mallory

Mallory — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 23:35:56 +0000

“According to Wikipedia”… Come on, Barry! Being a free thinker should mean you need to actually think. Using Wikipedia as a source is equivalent to asking random people on the street what they think and then using them as a serious citation.

Your article may actually contain truth, but any intelligent reader will necessarily discount anything said by a writer citing Wikipedia as a source.