Jehovah's Witnesses release video--hiding in bunker during Armageddon

There is a bizarre conversation about the evils of coffee breaks at work as well.

Jehovah's Witnesses allegedly put child in company of known molester; defy court

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/apr/14/jehovahs-witness-lopez-sex-abuse-appeal/

Naturopath charged after dying baby admitted to hospital

Here is the news article out of Australia. Sad.

Alternative Medicine and Jehovah’s Witnesses

When I was a jw child, as I have written about before, essential medical care was withheld from me. 

At that time (and for the record, this was before the discovery of HIV in the blood supply), the jws I was associated with were heavily into folk "remedies".  They did not trust, and avoided, standard medical care. I happened to come across some older publications that rather thoroughly document this "race memory", if you will, that jws have about modern medicine. Back then of course they were no longer producing those bizarre, paranoia-fueled cartoons, conspiracy theories, and calling doctors "The Serum Trust" and things like that. But the paranoia and bizarre beliefs remained as strongly as it had been in earlier decades.

Many of the jws were distributors of a line of vitamins and herbs known as Shaklee. They were really taken in by the sales pitch, believing Shaklee had a remedy for everything, eliminating the need for Western medicine. They had all the answers and doctors were blinded by Satan, who was trying to trick jws into taking blood products.

Blood was the subject of many of their delusions. It became routine to hear a rumor of animal blood being hidden in a certain product, jws boycotted it and engaged in letter writing campaigns to the manufacturers (counting this as evangelizing on their required monthly time cards). I was not allowed to eat Milky Way candy bars, hot dogs, and lunch meats at various times because of alleged "hidden blood". (There were similar issues with witchcraft—there would be a rumor that a company donated to Satanism or witchcraft, so we’d throw out the products and boycott them too.)

Doctrine prohibited them from having any medical treatment involving blood, even a drop. If you research this, yes, you will find some literature quotes contradicting this, along with ones confirming it. That's one of their tactics--if they don't want you to do something but don't really want to commit to it in writing, they use veiled and contradictory statements in print, while verbally prohibiting it from the pulpit. Many times they would say anyone taking blood was weak of conscience and therefore should be socially scorned within the group (socialization outside the group was prohibited too).

That being said, you can begin to imagine what it was like having a life-threatening genetic disease that can only be treated with blood, while being a part of this religion. What a paradox for a parent! The elders helped mine resolve it by teaching us that I'd be resurrected and it was ok to die for faith. (This “sacrifice” was bragged about in Awake! Magazine, whose cover featured dead children.) That paradox was further glossed over by placing a lot of faith in Shaklee’s unproven cures to save me.

One thing jws are infamous for is reading enough medical information to be dangerous, and misapplying it. There have been several instances when they read about a treatment for one disease and think it's effective for other diseases.

One of those remedies, for me, was Shaklee alfalfa tablets.  Alfalfa naturally contains Vitamin K. This company's products were touted as completely safe, free from side effects, because they were "natural". This product, though, does have some serious side effects, which I experienced.  Alfalfa contains Vitamin E, which makes my disease worse.

My condition deteriorated and I was on the brink of death multiple times, which you can read about here or here.

Pathetically, the jws’ delusions about modern medicine flipped the truth on its head. Their use of herbs was fine because it was “in the Bible and Jehovah gave them to us to use”, while modern medicine was considered witchcraft.

Ironically, the jws only believed in certain alternative healing and completely scorned others. I was often told the story of Rasputin, who they said used false religion and demons to cure a blood disorder. They ruminated about this, and with each iteration, the belief took another turn. Eventually, I was personally demonic because Rasputin was.

Scientific illiteracy is dangerous and deadly!

Comedian Makes Up Story About Satanism, Becomes National Expert

5 Insane Scams That Should Have Failed (But Didn't) | Cracked.com

Any of you who were in a fundamentalist religion in the 1980s probably remember the Great Satanic Cult Scare.  This article gives some great insight into how it started--it was a complete scam from the beginning!  An interesting study into how lies can foster hysteria and orthodoxy.

One would like to believe, in this Modern Era, Salem-style hysteria would not occur.  And yet it does. 

As this article points out, human nature still contains within it the potential to continue to believe something that has been proven false.

The first thing I remember is the McMartin preschool case.  I remember absolutely nothing of the fundamentalists admitting the accuser had paranoid schizophrenia, or that the accusations were implausible.  I remember it being used as a tool to scare members into huddling closer to the cult.  One defendant spent years in jail prior to being acquitted.

The mess also had its dire consequences upon psychiatry.  “Recovered memory therapy” did damage to countless people.

Critical thinking is surely one of the most important things humanity can accomplish.

TV Psychic Noreen Renier | Reputation destroyed

"As of late April 2012 search engines like Bing and Google offer multiple postings (many anonymous) falsely claiming that YouTube, Facebook, and TV psychic detective medium Noreen Renier recently sued a skeptic writer and won. But the truth is different. Here are the facts as known to the G&P Inquiry Institute and presented commercial-free as a public service.

Noreen Renier has testified in court of engaging non-living entities named Sing and Robert who she claims speak through her. Recently she authored a book in which she claims to communicate back and forth in English with trees who have memories of historical events taking place around them. Like an oak tree she claims she talked who --- she claims ---described where rivers once flowed and talked about humans who had fought nearby. This particular oak tree was her informant.

Is Noreen Renier a credible and reputable psychic? Absolutely not. Noreen Renier falsely claims a formidable reputation with "hundreds" of law enforcement agencies --- but her claim is bogus.

And Noreen Renier rather than winning in court rooms against critics has actually lost every single lawsuit brought against her by one skeptical writer and critic across the past twenty years...."

Click here to read the rest of the article.

Sanal Edamaruku under attack for exposing Catholic "miracle"

As he exposed the “miracle” of the drippling Jesus in Mumbai, revengeful Catholic Church leaders vow to harass Sanal Edamaruku with an array of blasphemy cases. The harassment has started. Sanal can be arrested any moment....
Click the title to read the rest of the article.

Millions Now Living Will Never Die (1925)

Holy disproportionate response, Batman! Emotional icebergs

The term "emotional icebergs" simply means that only a small portion of an emotion and reason for it are apparent.  The majority is "below the surface", not known to bystanders and sometimes not even known to the individual experiencing it.  If you notice a disproportionate emotional response to something, an iceberg may be the reason.

Destructive emergence of emotional icebergs ("shipwrecks") is a common pattern with ex-cultists.  One common trigger for the iceberg's emergence is belief--being presented with new information that cannot be easily confirmed by personally witnessing it--feeling pressured to believe.  Believe in something we're being told. Seeing others believe in what they're told.  Belief is a trigger.

There is camp #1 who instantly believes it without evidence or question.  Even after contrary proof has been provided, just like we were brainwashed to do--they keep believing.  Thinking for yourself is hard, painful and dangerous--it's bad, don't do it.

Camp #2 staunchly defends anyone who claims to be fighting the cult no matter how incredible the story becomes.  They want so badly for the vile cult to fall, they will ignore reason.  They are willing to send cash to alleged cult fighters (complete strangers) and are hostile when anyone questions the truth or asks for proof of anything, including identity.

Camp #3 who is overly skeptical but open minded.  These folks have done the needed personal work to get to this point.

Camp #4 who disbelieves and criticizes everything in a cynical, sometimes mean spirit.  Conspiracy theories abound. They operate on the same premise as Camp #1--thinking for yourself is hard, painful and dangerous--it's bad, don't do it.  They just err on the side of disbelief rather than belief--the second side of the same extremist coin.

Love it or hate it, that's us.  Injecting reason during these conflicts does help people reason, learn and grow.