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Mr_C
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Joined: 26 Jun 2006
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 Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 12:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Terrordar wrote: | | Well, look on the bridght side, at least your not in a Muslim country. |
Thank God for that! Err...I mean...well, shit. |
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Brian37
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| Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 2:23 pm Post subject: Re: Going on the offensive |
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| ManicParroT wrote: | OK. I live in the small city of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Just to give people background, South Africa is quite a conservative, overwhelmingly Christian country, and Pietermaritzburg is a microcosm of this. Lots of churches, lots of Christians. Schools are almost all Christian (including state schools - the separation of church and state principle isn't deeply entrenched in our Constitution).
Anyways, recently Mr. Dawkins published his latest book. Someone reviewed it in the local paper. The result? An enormous hullabaloo. The local paper has been filled with letters from theists and atheists. Mostly theists, but (I think due to the local university) there have been some strong atheist arguments. I'm proud to say that I contributed to the debate, mostly by rebutting specific challenges to evolution (the DNA information content argument is one).
Anyway, the paper has done a wrap on the debate, and declared it effectively closed. However, there's no doubt that it's stirred things up.
I was discussing this with my friend (we're both bored from being on holiday) and we've resolved to go and post flyers at the local evangelical Christian church. To be precise, we want to use the Kissing Hank's Ass pamphlet, available here:
http://www.jhuger.com/pamphlets/khb.pdf
If that fails, we'll go and hand them out in front of a Christian book store, or some such.
I know some people disapprove of going out and challenging others religions. Personally, I think it's quite a good idea - we need to win back some public space from religious groups. I don't expect converts from this - however, given the way Christians are constantly broadcasting their religion, I think it's important to stand up and challenge them openly. The discourse in this country is dominated by Christians to an alarming degree, and it's important to resist this.
Anyway, I'm just posting this to let you guys know, and get some help. Specifically, we're looking for printer friendly materiel that can be used as pamphlets or whatever. The Kissing Hank's Ass pamphlet is good, but a broader range might be handy.
Let me know what you guys think! Input and suggestions are welcome. |
Of course it is a good idea. Dont these idiots see that if someone didnt question white rule that blacks would still be suffering from aphartide there? If no one bothered to question the once held belief that the heart did the thinking we never would have discovered that the brain did the thinking.
It is amazing the dammage that white Christian imperialism did to South Africa to the extent that a claim of human flesh rising after 3 days of death is still a majority in a country where a once minority forced it onto the majority. No different than most blacks in America who are decendants of slaves who were forced to convert.
This is a loving God?
If I were black in either country the last ass I would kiss would be that of a dick that would allow such vile opression at all.
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My favorite song ever is by Diesel called "Sausalito Summernights" a one hit wonder in 1981. |
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ManicParroT
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Joined: 16 Jan 2005
Posts: 366
Local time: 2:35 PM
Location: South Africa
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| Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 2:27 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
This is a loving God?
If I were black in either country the last ass I would kiss would be that of a dick that would allow such vile opression at all. |
In all fairness, Christianity was on both sides. Archbishop Desmond Tutu was one of the most prominent opponents of apartheid.
Anyhoo, brief update. We went back to the church yesterday and looked around some more. These people really have an enormous amount of money - there's a coffee shop at the back of the enormous church building of doom, and they have huge posters everywhere.
We found a nice, friendly girl who directed us to the offices. She seemed really nice, which made me feel slightly bad about the whole thing, but I overcame such feelings when she mentioned that she was working on these huge posters for an outreach project at our varsity later on. 
We found the offices, waited for a moment to talk to one of the "Elders" of the church. Anyway, we went into his office and told him that we were atheists and we wanted to arrange for a debate or some such with some of the members of his congregation.
He rejected any idea of a debate out of hand, and spent the next 15 minutes ramblin on about Christianity and Jesus and what not. I kept trying to steer him back to the point, but he wouldn't have any of it.
By the end of the conversation I was quite convinced that the man is utterly crazy. He had this slow, smouldering fanaticism that seemed to suffuse his entire psyche. There was absolutely no room in his head for other ideas.
Anyhoo, we tried to give him some of the pamphlets but he refused them totally. So, no debate, and we didn't manage to get any of the Christians to take the pamphlets.
Luckily, the nice girl gave us an idea. We're going to go and do a bit of "Outreach" of our own, on campus during Orientation Week. Give "Kissing Hank's Ass" pamphlets out next to the Christian stall. It'll be good for a laugh in anycase. |
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Mr_C
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| Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 2:48 pm Post subject: |
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If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Have fun at the University. You might also try a "Smut for Smut" program. I understand those are quite popular amongst the kiddos.
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CET
The Spiritual Atheist
Joined: 02 Apr 2003
Posts: 12846
Local time: 8:35 PM
Location: SoCal, USA
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| Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 4:33 pm Post subject: |
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| ManicParroT wrote: | Anyhoo, brief update. We went back to the church yesterday and looked around some more. These people really have an enormous amount of money - there's a coffee shop at the back of the enormous church building of doom, and they have huge posters everywhere.
We found a nice, friendly girl who directed us to the offices. She seemed really nice, which made me feel slightly bad about the whole thing, but I overcame such feelings when she mentioned that she was working on these huge posters for an outreach project at our varsity later on.
We found the offices, waited for a moment to talk to one of the "Elders" of the church. Anyway, we went into his office and told him that we were atheists and we wanted to arrange for a debate or some such with some of the members of his congregation.
He rejected any idea of a debate out of hand, and spent the next 15 minutes ramblin on about Christianity and Jesus and what not. I kept trying to steer him back to the point, but he wouldn't have any of it.
By the end of the conversation I was quite convinced that the man is utterly crazy. He had this slow, smouldering fanaticism that seemed to suffuse his entire psyche. There was absolutely no room in his head for other ideas.
Anyhoo, we tried to give him some of the pamphlets but he refused them totally. So, no debate, and we didn't manage to get any of the Christians to take the pamphlets.
Luckily, the nice girl gave us an idea. We're going to go and do a bit of "Outreach" of our own, on campus during Orientation Week. Give "Kissing Hank's Ass" pamphlets out next to the Christian stall. It'll be good for a laugh in anycase. |
His faith must not be very strong.
I like this other idea better. Definitely MUCH less risky (you did walk into the lion's den, after all), and FAR more likely to reap a greater impact.
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CET 
The Spiritual Atheist
"Much of the suffering in the world comes from the delusion that we are separate from one another." - Gautama Buddha
"Those who dance are considered insane by those who can't hear the music." - George Carlin |
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ManicParroT
Royal Citizen
Joined: 16 Jan 2005
Posts: 366
Local time: 2:35 PM
Location: South Africa
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| Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2007 5:09 pm Post subject: |
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Brief update. We went out on campus armed with our Kissing Hank's Ass pamphlets, and handed them out to people waiting in line to register for varsity. We've discovered that telling people we're atheists is a bad idea: they tend to go on the defensive immediately, especially if they're Christians. Rather, we're hoping to plant some seeds and open up some cracks of doubt. The first years were all registering today, so lots of people hanging out in long lines, and something to read was appealling.
The most annoying problem we have is that printing stuff costs bucks - @ 30c a page (local inet cafe, neither of us have a printer) and dbl sided pamphlets, you end up paying about R18 for 30 copies, which is starting to bite.
Some guy actually ran across us later and asked if he could have one of the pamphlets (I think he'd seen them somewhere, and wanted to see what they were all about). We'd run out, but we explained the whole idea to him (couching it in the form of wanting to get people to look critically at their religion) and he seemed interested.
I'll look at my money and figure out if I can hand out more pamphlets tomorrow without breaking the bank.
I must state, that the general feeling I get from the day is that the more 'alternative' crowd - goth/punk etc - all seem a lot less religious than the jocks, who all seem high on Jebus. (incidentally, none of the clique terms really translate directly from America - I'm using them for convenience's sake)
All in all, a good day's work, and a lot of fun. Also gave me a chance to check out all the new talent on campus this year, and some of it was looking classy |
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CET
The Spiritual Atheist
Joined: 02 Apr 2003
Posts: 12846
Local time: 8:35 PM
Location: SoCal, USA
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| Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2007 5:31 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, saying who you are sets up prejudices which you now have to work through. Staying anonymous allows your arguments to be heard and considered on their own merits.
Go hard!
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Namaste,
CET
The Spiritual Atheist
"Much of the suffering in the world comes from the delusion that we are separate from one another." - Gautama Buddha
"Those who dance are considered insane by those who can't hear the music." - George Carlin |
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