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 mightymjolnir |
Welcome to FreeThought Fort Wayne! |
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Posts: 132 10/23/07 09:52:51 |
We're glad you found us! Please introduce yourself in this forum. This is a new board, so expect several changes over the next few days and weeks as we
perfect its appearance.
Admins are AndysCatHouse, NewsTravels, and mightymjolnir. Please feel free to message us with questions, concerns, or suggestions. Happy posting! m |
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YoSoyJu |
#1 | |||
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Posts: 39 10/26/07 23:54:55 |
Hey. My name's Justin. I'm 23. I'm an atheist and a critical thinker living in Harlan, just outside of Fort Wayne. I'm poor, fat, and happy.
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Blackwater.fortwayneatheist |
#2 | |||
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Posts: 3 10/27/07 08:24:36 |
Hi, My name is John... I am an atheist, I'm 37, I live in Fort Wayne, I'm married with two kids.
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Narly9999 |
Narly(A.K.A. Anthony) | #3 | ||
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Posts: 75 10/28/07 01:08:43 |
Hi, I'm Anthony. My last intro was pretty short due to lack of time. I work so damn hard! OK so the first thing ya need to know is that I'm a hard
worker. I've always been a free thinker that I remember. There where times I attempted to believe to do my best to see if it was true. Yeah sadly
disappointed I didn't get that new motorcycle and the 27 virgins. LOL JOKING! Which leads to the second part of me ya need to know, I'm a very
serious person that is seriously serious about joking around! Though I do try not to offend people with jokes at their cost! Generally I do that at my own
costs. Which leads me to the thought that, You are your own property so it's ok to joke about you but you are not the property of others so it's wrong
from them to joke about you at your expense. Ahhhh, ok some times i do TMI which bores people so ya know I just like to talk. But I'm about as normal as
rain in April. If a freethinking realistic type personality is even close to what the national norm is. Hmmm, OK, I concede, I'm anything but a typical
normal American sheep brainwashed by the system to bid for the corprate nation of higher educated wolves that take advantage of the lesser educated in their
society to give their political agenda power. Ok, maybe it's not that bad there has to be some decent companies out there that are fair about using their
profits to better the lives of the employees. Hmm, back on topic. I'm from Fort Wayne and have lived around the US in IL, NY, and Parts of Indiana. Done
some moving. Also been to college but ran out of money to finish. Also spent time in the U.S. ARMY National Guard as a Sargent. My Favorite passage in the
Bible is where Moses Kills thousands of innocent pregnant women and babies and rape young women. Numbers [31:00 - 31:30 I think] Just goes to show how much
people don't read the Bible as much as they think they are reading it when they sit in a cult house and have it read to them while they follow along on
selected verses. Suggestions for anyone to read would be: The Da Vinci Code, Hitchens, and Dawkins. Suggested websites to be bookmarked: infidelguy.com,
americanatheist.org, and of course this site as well. That's me in a nutshell!!
It's not what you believe but what you believe to believe in.
Last Edited By: Narly9999 01/06/08 22:28:50.
Edited 1 time.
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76Rose |
#4 | |||
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Posts: 35 11/03/07 21:08:01 |
I'm Rose. I'm 30, nearly 31, I'm not fat, I'm no longer married, I have 1 kid and I totally freaking rock.
Guns don't kill people- Chuck Norris kills people.
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skepticallyme |
#5 | |||
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Posts: 32 11/07/07 06:41:15 |
hi all! i am deb, 59 years old..thats good because ya get old or ya get dead..no fantasy about a do-over/heavenly reward here ;-) . definate atheist but not
anti-religion, i am frustrated by the religious cultures, not necessarily by the believers..depends on the individual.
narrow minded? your way is the really rite way? pressing your religious agenda into our nations laws? thats ok--gives us much to discuss here! |
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Capn Picard |
#6 | |||
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Posts: 11 11/13/07 10:21:49 |
I'm Jim, a fourth-year medical student at Ohio State University. AndysCatHouse is my brother and he invited me to join the board since I'm a fellow
free-thinker. I look forward to some interesting discussions.
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AndysCatHouse |
#7 | |||
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Posts: 147 11/13/07 22:11:52 |
Jim,
It is good to have a soon to be resident doctor on the board. Wow, you have no idea of how proud I am of you. However, I might have to pick on you for the Star Trek stuff and still slap you around a bit... (Gene Rodenberry the ultimate freethinker?). I think I should let the board know you tried to save my soul and bring me back to Jesus during our teenage years. I really appreciated you cared but I couldn't get past the inside/outside worldview of all the religions. (Oh, and the lack of modern miracles). -Andy |
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Capn Picard |
#8 | |||
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Posts: 11 11/16/07 00:47:49 |
AndysCatHouse wrote:Fair enough. (cracks up laughing) 
That should tell everyone just how "into religion" I was. (But what choice did I have? We were both pastor's kids, and the role of the independent, free-thinking son was already taken!  )
I was quite into Christianity. I was sold, hook-line-and-sinker. I went to church, Sunday school, and even a middle-of-the-week Bible study with friends. I prayed and read the Bible. When I would have doubts, I would pray for more faith, if for nothing else than Pascal's Wager (which I thought impenetrable). My senior year of high school, at a time when I was feeling pressure by my high school English teacher to have supporting evidence for my beliefs, I was introduced to Josh McDowell and Christian apologetics. It looked to me like it was all proven. I was surprised it wasn't in the papers, "Didn't you hear? They proved Christianity." When I hit college, I couldn't wait to join Campus Crusade for Christ. Along the way, I tried to "save people's eternal souls", especially people I cared about, which, yes, included my older brother. If nothing else, my commitment to religion should give hope that such a person can one day walk away from it to something better, like freethought. Various things led me to question my faith. For one, I met a gay Christian and became good friends with him. (At the time I didn't even know that "gay Christians" existed.) Secondly, in trying to convert others, I decided to set the example of looking at the evidence for and against the major worldviews and then making an informed decision. Thirdly, I got tired of having to look down on "lost" non-Christians, such as my brother. Long story short, here I am now. I like to call myself a Unitarian Universalist. What's everybody else's personal experience with religion? How "into it" were you? Andy, what do you mean by "inside/outside worldview" of all the religions? |
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agnohumanist |
#9 | |||
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Posts: 100 11/23/07 16:56:42 |
hi! glad to see a CFI group is starting up in the FW area. Reba (of CFI Indy) told me a few months ago that something was going to begin soon. i've been
to some programs sponsored by CFI Indy (Darwin Day, Grand Opening), but that's a long, expensive drive for me. I'm a soon-to-be 50 yr-old
teacher/coach; i call myself an agnostic/freethinker/humanist. i enjoy reading, writing, working out, and discussing ideas. i especially enjoy Darwinism and
related topics, even though i don't teach science. dawkins, t. paine, sagan, zinn, b. russell, vonnegut, and twain are among my favorite authors. when is
the next meeting? i have a busy schedule, but i'd like to meet everyone if i can make it.
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agnohumanist |
#10 | |||
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Posts: 100 11/23/07 16:58:18 |
agnohumanist wrote: "It is wrong always, everywhere, and for everyone to believe things upon insufficient evidence." --William James |
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mightymjolnir |
#11 | |||
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Posts: 132 11/25/07 09:58:10 |
Welcome agnohumanist!
Glad you found us. We meet the second wednesday of every month in the main (downtown) branch of the library, 7 pm in one of the small study rooms near the entrance to Reader's Services. Based on the number of people in attendance last time, we will probably have to move to a larger room soon. For some reason, we weren't announced in the last CFI monthly bulletin that was just sent. It looks like the next meeting will be December 12th - check back here for more details. Again, thanks for signing in - hopefully we'll be a little more active on the board after the holiday. m |
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halogenmoon |
#12 | |||
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Posts: 1 11/25/07 11:40:41 |
I'm Luke, I'm 24, have 3 dogs and 1 daughter. That's basically the same as 2.5 kids. I was born and raised in the Catholic church and went through
a very tough period when I realized that none of it made sense. I have some resentment towards Catholicism left over from that experience. It seems cruel that
they never mention to children growing up in the church, that there are other possibilities out there. Instead they just cram it down your throat as the only
possible truth when really it's about as far away from "truth" as you can get.
Andy invited me to this group saying that the discussions are all based on science and logic, not emotion. I told him I would have some trouble with that because my beliefs are based on all 3. For the purpose of this message board I will remove the 3rd from discussions as much as possible, but know that my emotions (non-tangible pieces of my thought process) do play a part. I am not an atheist, but I wouldn't call myself a subscriber to any specific religion either. Call me a "?" still searching for answers. |
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agnohumanist |
#13 | |||
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Posts: 100 11/25/07 12:35:27 |
thanks! i look forward to attending meetings when i can. as i mentioned before, i have a really busy schedule with teaching, coaching, kids, etc., but i will
try to make it. it's important to me to have a chance to meet with like-minded people since there aren't many in my very conservative community--at
least not many i know of. probably many--perhaps most--have their doubts about mainstream religions and the preposterous things they ask you to believe.
however, even those who doubt usually keep their doubts to themselves out of fear.
i've recently been reading some fascinating books about evolution, including "evolution for everyone," which delves into evolution's role in social aspects of humanity, and "monkey girl" about the dover trial. i've barely started that one but am already amazed at the backwards, parochial thinking of so many people in that community. to me, the ability of evolution to explain so many aspects of our world is so much more awe-inspiring and fascinating than any ancient, superstition-filled text could ever be. it's a crime that so many teachers and schools avoid the topic of evolution--or give it only cursory coverage--because they are afraid of the controversy. oh, i also recently read "the reluctant mr. darwin," which revealed interesting details about darwin's life and the story of how and why he delayed publication of "origin of species." |
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AndysCatHouse |
#14 | |||
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Posts: 147 11/25/07 19:02:15 |
Hi Agnohumanist,
It is great to have you. We would love to have you at our next meeting. What do you teach and coach? The next meeting will be Wed. Dec 12 at 7 PM at the downtown library. I am working on getting us a bigger room. Stay tuned for the room number. For your schedule, we will be meeting the 2nd Wed of each month at 7PM at the library. -Andy |
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agnohumanist |
#15 | |||
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Posts: 100 11/25/07 23:27:37 |
Thanks! I teach English and coach a variety of sports--cross country at the high school level, basketball at the middle school level, and baseball most
summers at the youth league level. I also umpire some.
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mightymjolnir |
#16 | |||
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Posts: 132 11/26/07 07:49:28 |
Welcome halogenmoon!
Wow, another former Catholic. I knew there had to be more out there. Personally, I didn't have too bad an experience with Catholicism, just sort of outgrew it. I appreciate your comments about "Catholic children." My wife and I are expecting in March, and our child will be raised in the Catholic church...but he/she will definitely be made aware of the other options. I might disagree a little with Andy on the "emotion" argument. Sure, appeals directed strictly to emotion aren't very constructive, but even emotion serves an evolutionary purpose. We're more likely to dismiss out-of-hand things like appeals to tradition or authority. I say don't edit out your emotions - we tend to have greater-than-average attention spans here, so if you need to clarify your thoughts later, we'll give you the benefit of the doubt. |
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AndysCatHouse |
#17 | |||
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Posts: 147 11/26/07 23:44:23 |
Welcome fellow Halo player halogenmoon and thanks Mighty for slapping me down. If I said it like he wrote it I would agree with you... lol Oh You and your
evolutionary behavior theories and Dan Dennitisms lol. All I said was if you have an opinion back it up with some reasons. (They can be emotional) Sorry
Halogen for any confusion and it is wonderfully refreshing to hear someone say they don't know and they still have questions.
I remember reading about a guy who lost the "emotion" part of the brain in a war or accident. Basically it is impossible to function with only logic and neither could that guy. If it was pure logic than how does one place value judgments on different decisions. Put another way, captain Kirk trumps Spock in important decisions. The two work together well though!!! I know my brother will like that comparison.
Last Edited By: AndysCatHouse 11/26/07 23:47:37.
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treehugger308 |
#18 | |||
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Posts: 2 11/27/07 17:07:30 |
Hello ... my name is Sandie.
Can you give me some information about the group? |
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AndysCatHouse |
#19 | |||
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Posts: 147 11/29/07 23:34:45 |
Hi Sandie,
Welcome. Sorry for the delay. It has been hard to get online now that the holiday buying season is in full swing. I think freethought on wikipedia explains the general idea behind freethougth really well. This is a fairly new group. From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freethought "Freethought is a philosophical viewpoint that holds that beliefs should be formed on the basis of science and logic and not be compromised by emotion, authority, tradition, or any dogma. The cognitive application of freethought is known as freethinking, and practitioners of freethought are known as freethinkers." We meet once a month at the library to discuss these topics. Most of us are atheists or agnostics but that is not a requirement. We are pretty passionate about the establishment clause, science and reason. We are organized with the Center for Inquiry Indiana. See: http://www.centerforinquiry.net/indy -Andy |
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mightymjolnir |
#20 | |||
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Posts: 132 11/30/07 10:34:17 |
Welcome Sandie!
As Andy said, sorry about the delay in responding. I think he covered what we're about pretty ably - we're working on putting together our own website in the future. Until then, feel free to ask, discuss, debate, rant, whatever. m |
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