Boston Area Coalition of Reason Kick Off Event (Nov 2)

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Good without God? Millions of Americans are.
boston.unitedcor.org/

Kickoff Event

When: Monday Nov.2, 7:30-9:30 PM
Where: Harvard Science Center Hall D. Free and Open to the Public

I thought this could be of interest. One of the member organizations is the Tufts Free Thought Society. www.facebook.com/group.php

Comments

[infinitemorning.livejournal.com]

I sincerely doubt that there's anyone that takes 'God' to be literally synonymous with 'love'. When people say God is love, they are referring to His (or Her, or his, or her) infinite compassion, not saying that the terms 'God' and 'love' are interchangeable.

Put it this way: Earth is a planet. Not all planets are Earth, and when I say Earth is a planet, I don't mean Jupiter is an Earth.

[turil.livejournal.com]

You haven't talked to many people about God have you? People are far more complex than you seem to think when it comes to ideas about "god".

[oakenguy.livejournal.com]

Maybe infinitehotel hasn't. But as the son of a minister, an ordained minister myself, and the author of God: What Do Different People Mean When They Use That Word?, please believe me when I say that your objection was utterly idiotic.

[oakenguy.livejournal.com]

infinitemorning, sorry. Wrong attribution.

No objection, just real information.

[turil.livejournal.com]

I imagine that you simply haven't talked to the folks I've talked to. Or at least haven't asked them the questions I've asked them. Try asking people who believe in God where love comes from. Or what it feels like to feel "full of God". Compare those answers to what you get when you ask where hate/fear comes from, and what it feels like to feel "without God".

[cnoocy]

If I understand you correctly, you are stating that there are a significant number of people who so closely align "God" and "love" in their mental lexicons that they read the phrase "without God" as entirely synonymous with the phrase "without love". Is that correct, or am I misunderstanding you?

[turil.livejournal.com]

Not quite. More like: There are a significant number of people who so closely align "God" and "love" in their mental lexicons that they read the phrase "without God" as similar enough to the phrase "without love" as to make the phrase extremely bizarre and unpleasant to them. Perhaps they aren't consciously aware of it, but unconsciously, definitely.

[cnoocy]

I'm not sure that there's any subtle way to reach such people without hiding the nature of the organization. At least with this, they can puzzle over how such a contradiction could be possible, which might lead them to be more open-minded in the future.

[infinitemorning.livejournal.com]

On the contrary, I think "God is LITERALLY love, and I will accept no other definitions" is the most simplistic and boneheaded definition I've ever heard. I tend to trust in humanity's ability to reason through this sort of thing. I'm sorry if you've encountered people who simply can't.

[turil.livejournal.com]

I don't believe anyone has that thought.

However if you are trying to convey a message to people, you have to use their definitions of words, or at least define your own clearly so that people don't write you off as being ignorant.

[maelithil.livejournal.com]

I was a raised a Catholic, though I'm now an atheist, and I think you're being ridiculous. It's YOUR hangup, it's YOUR interpretation of the word. God, to the vast majority of people, means exactly that: god. Not love, or light, or pie, or kittens.

Nope.

[turil.livejournal.com]

Not my interpretation at all. It's what others have expressed. And clearly, as an atheist, you aren't likely to have the same beliefs as someone who believes in God does. I don't either. But I do listen to these folks, and go a bit deeper into what they believe, and it's pretty impressive as to what you can discover if you simply ask...

Re: Nope.

[maelithil.livejournal.com]

Uhm, I talked to people about god while I was a Christian. I was an altar girl, I served mass. I talk to people about god now, too. My entire family is Roman Catholic and I like them very much.

I have never met anyone, laity or clergy, who would have read that sign and somehow extrapolated that it meant one could be good without love. Never. They must be hiding somewhere, having secret metaphor parties.

We're not talking consciously here.

[turil.livejournal.com]

We're talking about how connections are made in the brain, on an unconscious level. The sort of level that marketing works on. People aren't usually aware of all the little triggers that are happening in their brain because the conscious mind filters it out, but the body reacts to them nonetheless.

Ask people who say they believe in god/s what it feels like to be embraced by god/s, or what it felt like if they ever had a sense of being touched by god/s and you're very likely to get a response that includes the sensation of warmth, a feeling of pure love, and/or a pure white light. Thus when they think of god/s they feel love, light, warmth, etc. They may not be consciously aware of those feelings, but if this is their experience of god/s, then those feelings will be there in the body along with the conscious thoughts.