Since secular families are growing in number - and atheists are raising children in an environment of believers who think nothing of segregating against them, the communal networking our families do is taking on increasing importance.

I know many secular families feel they have little choice but to join a Unitarian church (all due respect to the wonderful people in UU organizations) in order to be surrounded by understanding people each week - and I’m interested in seeing alternatives to church for non-believers taking center stage. This includes having playgroups for children where they feel safe discussing their lack of faith in myth-interpreted-literally, secular ‘holidays’, science and reason as an important element of their upbringing, coping with less accepting family members and the theological expression often pressured onto our families in public schools, the workplace and elsewhere.

In other words - living as a humanist, rather than being defined by a conflict with those that believe differently.

I don’t know if this is helpful or not - I’ve only just stumbled upon your blog and the local free-thought group that you organize - but it seems to be the material most lacking for people like ourselves.

What facts?

What facts?

You think my opinions are concrete, and can’t be changed. That’s not true. The fact is that there isn’t a shred of evidence to back up any religious claims. Once we get some evidence, I’ll evaluate it and change my mind if that’s what seems to be true.

It’s the “true believers” who say “I know what I know and you’ll never change my mind.” You can change my mind about anything at all. And it’s so simple — all you need to do is show me the facts.

And when there are no facts at all, the only sane position is to doubt a claim that is made based on nothing at all. I’m not taking a position that certain claims are false. I am disbelieving them. I am not saying that I know no gods exist, or that I know for a fact that all religions are false. I’m saying that there’s not a single reason to believe any of those things.

Since you challenged me to let my guard down so I can learn something, I challenge you to provide something — anything — which will sway me even 1% toward acceptance of any religious claims. You don’t have to “prove” anything — just show me something that will make me say “Hmmm — you have a point there.”

Your point about me just being another person “telling them something” is exactly the point I’m trying to make. If you can dismiss something I say, then explore in yourself the reason you don’t dismiss what the other person told you.

As for respecting people: I do respect the people. I do not, can not, and will not respect all of their beliefs. There is a big difference. If I didn’t respect the people, or if I didn’t care to try to make a difference in their lives, I wouldn’t bother to write any of this.

It’s amusing that you read what you did into what I wrote, but stopped short. I could have written all of what you said and more, but I wanted it to be short enough that people might read it quickly and think about it. If I put all that detail into it, it would just be another thing ignored by the short-attention-span Internet crowd. You’re halfway there — just get the rest of the way there.

Shawn

Thanks for the insight. I mainly wanted to stir up some conversation — I know that a lot of the things I wrote aren’t the most popular ideas in the world right now. I’m just a bit surprised that almost nobody felt the need to comment.

As for joining another community, I won’t be doing that. I have my own site with my own URL, and I think that’s a step (or more) up from places like that. I’ve never understood the whole “social networking” craze, and I have no interest in participating in it.

I’ll just leave the site up for what it’s worth, and take satisfaction in knowing that I put a lot of what I wanted to say out there for the world to read if it chooses.

Shawn

If you want to reach out to more people and get more feedback, then I suggest you start a blog in an active online community like Live Journal or MySpace (preferably the other better services out there).

Oh and P.S.:
This scumbag is off to the magic shop in Reading to buy some stuff. Hope you arent offended.

yours trully:
Scumbag

Let me just address one of the points in your last e-mail, which by itself will address the others. It is true that people shouldn’t believe something just because someone else tells them. That’s called an “argument from authority.” However, there is a range here for how much you should trust someone based upon their qualifications. For example, Jeff McBride is not a doctor. If he gave me medical advice, I’d certainly look to other sources. He is not qualified to give such advice. However, McBride is a well-respected magician, known to be respected by other magicians who care very much about ethics. Also, he is the creator of the set of videos in question. Therefore, his “opinion” about whether he has been ripped off is a valid source from which we may draw our own conclusions.

Also: McBride is a busy guy — he’s always traveling, performing, teaching, or doing something on the go. Why would he take time out of his busy schedule to accuse some guy of ripping him off when he’s never even met that guy in his life? This is not proof, obviously, but it’s one more thing to think about.

In my opinion, you have made serious charges without serious investigation. While Jeff might be a trustworthy person, I would not just take his word, or anyones for gospel in an issue this serious. Espically when Jeff admits that he has not seen all of the information himself. In order for me to make an informed decision I must review all of the information at hand. Something I feel you have not done.

Just looking at a copy of the table of contents from Ed’s DVD I find things like…
Roy Benson move
Cardini Single Production
Ken Brooke Single Production
Garcia’s Eclipse Production
Garcia’s Million Dollar Card Production
Walter Gibson’s Interlock Production

I can not base a decision this important on this amount of information.

You also tend to preach about religon, and how people should investigate things and not just believe in them because someone says so. If you believe Ed is a fraud so be it, but you investigate and find out for yourself. If you do and find him to be a fraud then so be it.

Good Luck
Ryan

Just my thoughts.