Comments on: Agnosticism – copping out?

By: PaulJ

PaulJ — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:25:36 +0000

@Claire:

“And when my pastor tried to slay me in the spirit I deliberately fell onto the floor to avoid embarrassment…although I was a bit disappointed that despite wanting to randomly collapse like everyone else did, I couldn’t.”

I wonder how many of those present this also applied to. I’d guess there’d be quite a bit of consensual pretending…

By: Siobhan

Siobhan — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:49:37 +0000

@Ian, I wonder, did you watch the programme?

The exchange in question related to an apparent message from God given on a bus, the question that was asked was entirely rational and the response was disproportionally emotional – this reaction may not have been mirrored by ALL christians, but that does not make the reation in itself any less symptomatic of a larger issue, don’t ask questions that we don’t want to have to think about too much, so we can keep on nodding and choosing to hear (or think about) nothing at all.

By: Ian

Ian — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:06:02 +0000

“The question was treated as patronising and offensive, by the very people placed there to answer sensible questions. It was brilliantly symptomatic of the problem: that rational discussion has no place at the table. Just believe it because it’s true. End of story.”

This is where Derren goes all vague. He accuses others of being irrational despite offering no reasonable evidence of it. He then feels that it is sensible to assume that the answer he didn’t like would have been given by all Christians everywhere, and is thus “symptomatic of the problem”. No doubt many reasonable answers were given to questions, but no matter how many he would never call the Christians a shining example of reason.

You are all only nodding because he is saying what you want to hear.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:46:21 +0000

I got round to watching this last night. Having walked past Alpha Course posters for many years it was fascinating and eye-opening to see what the course entails. The posters would have you believe it’s a meeting of people to discuss philosophical ideas. I’m still baffled as to why Christianity is allowed to employ these tactics in yet is excluded from accusations of brain-washing and cult-like recruitment tactics.

I cannot even agree with the course member, who at the end, said he had warmed to these people due to their selfless pursuit to help others (or something like that) I find their agenda sinister and disingenuous.

By: flapjack

flapjack — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:53:02 +0000

Thanks for the insight Claire – though I’m still no closer to a why here. Surely most folks would simply be too embarrassed and self concious to spout spontaneous gobbledigook at the drop of a hat, so something must have compelled you to do it. Did you actually comprehend the gist of what you were saying or was it simply mindless gibberish to you too? Was it something in the communion wine or the air conditioning? Or was the desire to fit in so great that you simply did it without thinking?
I’ve never seen it in any other context but evangelical churches and their flocks, so there’s definately something going on, but whether it’s group dynamics, the power of suggestion, genuine divine intervention [skeptical] or being doped up to the eyeballs without knowing, I’m still shaky on the details.

By: Emma Rose

Emma Rose — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:24:42 +0000

This sort of thing makes me really angry!
My boyfriend got me to watch the God channel and it was a very similar thing. We noticed so many brainwashing techniques and sneaky tricks they were pulling. He found it funny but it was made me mad!

By: B Dylan

B Dylan — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:58:31 +0000

SGC: F5 … I see … but still … symbolic farts from the brain … don’t we do it all now and then? I’m not 100% sure ofcourse, but even Derren will not be free from this now and then. Ofcourse he will have to control himself here a bit more than any of us .. but still … he is, after all, I suspect, of human nature …….

A real fart … that would be something for the future I suppose .. when the internet does have scent features as well … not looking forward to that I must say ..

F5 is a bit old fashioned but as it is all we have to keep up with everything around here … A chat corner would be a nice addition ..

By: Martin Baker

Martin Baker — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:46:01 +0000

I wasn’t surprised by the programme but it was very sickly sweet and downright creepy. The Alpha Course seems to employ just about every trick in the book. The emotional manipulation of the attendees just made me feel sick. I really wonder how honest and open the course designers are about the techniques that are used.

The moment when the cars roared off was very funny. God is clearly not as omnipresent as he’s meant out to be. I’m sure the pastor would probably have said it was the Devil playing his little tricks again.

I think by the end, I was wanting to know more about the people in the church running the course. Obviously their belief encourages them to “spread the gospel” but what drives them to do this on a personal level? The chance to earn some brownie points with God?

1 convert out of 8 is not a great statistic.

By: Catharine

Catharine — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:07:51 +0000

Last month I was in a situation of meeting a lot of new people over a couple of weeks, getting pretty intimate pretty quickly, and funny thing: I noticed that when I mentioned to people that I was an atheist, many of them tried to argue me down to agnostic…. Hm.

By: Synonymous

Synonymous — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:07:37 +0000

If you really want to question everything you thought you didn’t know then this might not be the most revealing “Documentary” you never watched http://krishnatube.com/video/269/The-Mysterious-Origins-of-Man