1981 Ph.D Thesis on JWs (page 2)

slipnslidemaster

You know, that might be food and fodder for a possible new campaign--targeting Watchtower researchers. bwahahah

Ya think?!?! Target ALL of them!! The Watchtower engages in excellent public relations and tactics. When will we start to hit these researchers where they live?

Hi there JAVER, this is Earl Pitts, American, checkin in. My wife Pearl, says hi. Good to see you contributing again. Another article you may want to look at is Stark's 1997 article on the growth rate of JWs. It is in the Journal of Contemporary Religion. Your librarian could order a hard copy through Ohio link. There is a copy at Clevelant State. She may be able to find it from the info I gave you. If not, email me and I will give you the exact reference, which is not in front of me at present. DB, regarding Stark, I think he got suckered in on his interveiw regarding the JWs. By contrast to his recent interview, his journal article is well thought out and fairly accurate. I found a few errors but nothing major compared to the major concepts he is presenting. I plan to write him a snail mail letter regarding his points of error as well as the change in growth rates since 1997, i.e., no growth and decline, in many countries. When I write this letter, I will post my comment here for your folk's review, before I send it. After all, 500 heads are better than one. (500 reads to a typical thread.) I was going to write, 666 heads are better than one, but I decided against using that number, as Fred Hall would jump all over it.

JAVA

Hey there Earl & howdy to Pearl, too:

I'll take a lookie see at JCR as soon as I can get the old truck runen. It ain't been the same since I used the gun rack to fix a flat tire the other day. Here's lookin at you and yours!

dungbeetle

let me express it this way...these researchers have a unique opportunity to gather and diseminate information that could result in the saving of much heartache and maybe many lives.

The problem is, the standards to which these researchers are held seem to me to be very low, at least in years past. I don't have time to go into detail, and some of the stuff I've been looking at is very old.

AND LARC, PUT UP OR SHUT UP I base my judgements on what I SAW and HEARD Rodney Stark SAY, on that website. I don't see anything unreasonable in that. I have read some of his other stuff (what I could get) and my opinion is only reaffirmed, what he said on that website is extremely consistent with what I have seen of his work so far. He appears to be extremely biased at least and perhaps even dishonest---if he was paid to say something that was not true, and he did it, he drags down his whole profession, and I don't see any of them jumping up to comment on behalf of the silentlambs he basically called liars.

Now, on the other hand, if his words were taken out of context or something like that, his responsibility is to get up there and say so. The fact that he hasn't in all this time, leads me to believe that I and his other critics are right.

larc, you are entitles to your opinion, and I respect that, it isn't your belief I am calling to task. It's what you are doing about it, your actions. He called, basically, the silentlambs who said the Watchtower policies and written statments harmful and bad, and he says otherwise. he is calling them liars.

NO ONE PICKS ON MY SILENTLAMBS AND GETS AWAY WITH IT.

larc

DB, What's with this yelling at me. I said, I think Stark got suckered in. I only have access to one page of an interview. What he said was correct, but not the whole story. I emailed him and told him that. He never relied, even thought he had replied to my earlier email to him, where I asked him for references to his printed work regarding the Witnesses. Now, if there is more to the interview than I have obtained, could you please cut and paste it here? The brief material I have did not show an attack on anyone. If what I have is incomplete, would you or someone else, please provide the full record? Let me repeat, I think that Stark was off base in the portion of the interview that I have read. DB, does that clarify my perception of the situation?

slipnslidemaster

I think this is the document that you are referring too. I thought it was well written as well, with minor errors.

http://lsb.scu.edu/econrel/Downloads/JWGrow-O.pdf

larc

Slip, I have hard copy of the article. What I am interested in, is a full transcript of his interview. I only have page one, which looks to be incomplete. I am on webtv, and the links that have been provided thus far, won't work. I need a printed trancript printed here. This has been done many times on other subjects, so I am hoping that someone will do it with this one.

JAVA

larc,

When are you going to get a real computer? Slip's link requires Acrobat Reader (one can use that on a real computer) and it's from the Journal of Contemporary Religion, Vol 12, Nov 2, 1997. It's 25 pages, and the one you spoke of in the first post. I guess you already have it, but if not let me know; I've got it saved on my computer. I'll be happy to print it for you, if needed. That way you'll owe me a brew. It's not the interview transcript you're seeking. However, I appreciate the link, Slip--thanks!

slipnslidemaster

You're very welcome JAVA. However, Mindchild originally found it and here is the discussion around the link:

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=22704&site=3

In addition, use the new search that Simon put up and search on the term "Stark" and you will find a few different threads on the good doctor.

I'm not just a pretty face, fluff poster and all around sex god. I'm also a hardcore apostate-in-training.

larc

Hey, JAVA this is Gilbert Gnarley, here at the Mt. Pisga retirement home. Hey, I got me a wiz bang new Hewlett Packard, but the darn thing has a bad mother board and I have to ship it back to the manufacturer. On Stark's work, I do have that article by Stark, but I can't get the transcript of the interview with him and two other professionals. It is on the official JW web site, but every time I try to access it, I get a message that it is unaccessable, "probably because the site is too busy". That is the material, I would like to get my hands on. I do have one page, but it appears to be incomplete. As Earl likes to say, "Wake up America, Pitts off." Regarding that brew, meet me at Angie's, now called Kelley's, and I will buy you several.

1981 Ph.D Thesis on JWs

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