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

[turil.livejournal.com]

Also, people have many different meanings for "god". For some the term god means "love". So the title of the campaign and book to these folks sounds just like "Good Without Love" which is pretty dumb sounding, and probably not at all what was intended. I say, leave "god" out of things unless you are very clear what you mean by the term.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Reads loud and clear to me.

[ron_newman]

but posting text as a graphic, and misspelling a common word, does indeed show a need for better communications skills.

Message was pretty clear to me.

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Free and open to everyone.

[perich.livejournal.com]

Do the (very few) people who think god means "love," rather than "a supernatural consciousness worthy of worship," not understand what the rest of the world thinks of "god" as? Is the conceptual leap, "Oh, okay, they mean 'god' as in 'that guy who lives in the clouds,' not my conception of god" too much for them?

I mean, some people think of meat as disgusting. Should every steak ad include a disclaimer?

[turil.livejournal.com]

When you are doing PR, and trying to convey a message, it's kind of crucial to actually care about what your audience thinks.

And it's actually not "very few" people who link "love" to the term "god". It may not be the only definition most people have for the word, but it's definitely one of the top definitions that get included for many, many people who've been raised with Christian traditions. That and the idea that "God is Light". I think a lot of anti-Christian folks kind of don't pay attention to that fact. I've talked with a lot of very religious folks, mostly Christian and more esoteric spirituality types, who do indeed feel that God is more of a scientific force that is easily represented as literally being the "sensation of love" and the idea of pure energy (pure light), and not at all some "guy in the sky".

[perich.livejournal.com]

Compared to however many hundreds of millions in the Abrahamic (Judeo / Christian / Islamic) and Hindu traditions, who believe that their gods are anthropomorphic?

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

I believe that love exists. I also believe that light exists. I don't believe that a god exists.

To say they're all the same thing is a little...limiting.

Write them an e-mail.

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

They may hire you for their next PR campaign.

[candid.livejournal.com]

For me, "god" means "gluten." Which means the campaign sounds like "Good Without Gluten."

Which (in a cosmically-improbable coincidence) is the name of a great little blog:

http://goodwithoutgluten.blogspot.com/

One wonders if the whole campaign wasn't secretly spearheaded by coeliacs.

[turil.livejournal.com]

:-) !

Us glutenless are serious heathens, aren't we...

[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.

[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?

[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.

[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.

[agnosticoracle.livejournal.com]

Since love is an emotion not an entity that can be prayed too, perhaps you have more in common with the folks putting this on than you let on. Well that or it is all just a concern troll thing.

[arcanology.livejournal.com]

Forum without concern troll?

[agnosticoracle.livejournal.com]

I think that is very negative attitude. Some people believe concern trolls are really the fairies at the bottom of the garden that make all life possible!

[turil.livejournal.com]

I am indeed very likely incredibly similar to the people in the Coalition of Reason. No trolling, just constructive criticism for my fellow science types. My goal is to use curiosity about how the universe works (science) as a way to be a better person, and create a better world, and that includes understanding the science of communication and emotions and inspiration so that we can communicate all the great things about science...

[agnosticoracle.livejournal.com]

You seem to be echoing the criticism being aimed at the "New Atheist" like Dawkins, Hitchens, and PZ. But the thing is their outspoken and occasionally antagonistic communications have produced results. Atheists groups are growing. Ads like this are being seen all around the world. Atheists are getting more media time and talking much more openly. Hitchens, who took his book tour deep into the Bible belt, had long lines of people at book signings. Many were heard saying that they previously thought they were the only atheists in town. Theses are great results!

That doesn't mean there isn't a place for curiosity. Carl Sagan is great. Dawkins' "Unweaving the Rainbow" is one of my favorite books. There is a place for curiosity but there is also a place for antagonism. Don't try to silence the atheists you think are too negative; instead organize your own free thinker's group with your own message of curiosity. We can have both; we don't all have to follow the same script.

Though one really ironic thing here is one of the early humanists to criticize the new atheist was Greg Epstein (http://atheism.about.com/b/2007/04/01/greg-epstein-vs-atheist-fundamentalism.htm). His new book is titled "Good without God (http://www.amazon.com/Good-Without-God-Billion-Nonreligious/dp/0061670111). We don't believe in god, we believe we can be good, we know we can be good without god. That is the truth. Speaking the truth is a good thing.

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that people who believe God is love aren't going to be interested in this gathering in the first place.

[turil.livejournal.com]

They might be if they saw that it was a positive thing, rather than a negative/antagonistic thing at heart.

But sure, it depends on your goals as an organization. Do you want to promote your ideas, or do you just want to hang out with other people who already agree with you?

[turil.livejournal.com]

But really, if they weren't interested in the people who do believe in God, why bother with the word "God" at all? It's clearly in there to make some kind of connection with those who think about god/s a lot...