SOMETHING VERY STRANGE?

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A number of threads have been started recently on the call by someone known as Anthony Last, at his web site www.formulisn.org, to end organised religion. His proposal to the United Nations is dated 27 Jan. Most of the U.S.A. is several hours behind Europe due to differences in time zones.

How is it then that J.W.’s throughout Europe were swapping the story via e-mail, under various extreme headings like "The Time of The End", on 27 January. I got one from the North of England and one from Southern Spain. Is someone taking them for a ride and if so who, how and why?

The formulism web site seems to be an extremist anti-religion web site and hardly one that J.W.’s would be avidly watching for prophetic fulfilments. Is it possible that someone is purposely feeding them this rubbish to (help) make them look stupid?

(Know_You, what have you been up to?)

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Max Divergent

This link works better: http://www.formulism.org/index.html

Well, to be a Formulist you adhere to a formula; some of the things you won't do are celebrate christmas, join the military and get involved in politics.... sound familier?

A comfortable set of practices the JW can relate to? It's also message is one JW's want to hear/believe - 'our prophesy is coming true, see how worthwhile the years of privation have all been!

Hitching a ride of the hopefulness and self-rightiousness of our ancestors?

Edited to add... you'll find this in the FAQ's

Open letter to Jehovah's Witnesses - 1st Feb 04
Over the past few days I have received literally dozens of e-mails from Jehovah's Witnesses. I apologise for not having had the time to reply to every message personally and hope that this open letter will answer the majority of issues raised.

It seems that there are many similarities between Formulists and Jehovah's Witnesses, including our political neutrality, pacifism, rejection of nationalism and respect for the unborn. Whilst I concede that Jehovah's Witnesses do not engage in many of the things that make most religions so destructive, it would be impossible to isolate a single religion without appearing to endorse it. Besides, the existence of a relatively small sect, however seemingly blameless, cannot justify the existence of religion in general.

... and it goes on...

Take care, max

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Thanks for the info Max. I hadn’t looked at the site today and missed the letter to J.W.’s

They really do pick some strange bedfellows.

But how did this chap Last manage to get the information into the J.W. e-mail chain so quickly? From some of the wording used I would guess that it was a British organisation and not from the U.S. This means that time difference would have no effect in Europe. But even so that was very rapid distribution even by Internet standards. Or is it possible they got an advanced copy? This would suggest that someone somewhere has a serious contact in the J.W. e-mail chain (or knows a man who has).

I’m still very suspicious.

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Nathan Natas

I wrote to the "contact" address and asked who they were, what their origin was, and what the background of its leadership was.

They are conveniently "overwhelmed" with email and can not answer my questions.

It is very easy to suspect that the person behind this may be either a Dub doing it as a hoax or an XDub doing it for dog knows what reason. On the other hand, Dubs are not the only people in the world who hold some of the views expressed by Formulism.

Time may tell, and then again, it may not.

While I agree that mankind would be better off without invisible imaginary friends telling him to kill his infidel neighbor, I am not so naive as to think that "outlawing religion" would achieve that goal. The Soviet Union outlawed religion for scores of years, completely unsuccessfully.

Will man ever abandon superstition completely?

I doubt it, but each night I thow myself to the ground prostrate before the shimmering image of The Great Flaboge, begging Him to make it so.

gumby

The formulism web site seems to be an extremist anti-religion web site and hardly one that J.W.?s would be avidly watching for prophetic fulfilments. Is it possible that someone is purposely feeding them this rubbish to (help) make them look stupid?

THis doesn't mean that thousands of dubs look at this site. It only takes ONE dub to start a shitload of rumours that can travel faster than the speed of light.

Gumby

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gumby,

I agree, but how did this one (or even two or three) dubs manage to get the information all round Europe within 24 Hours? Had it taken a week or so I could understand it but you have to agree that this seems a little unusual to say the least.

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gumby

I guess that depends on how far over Europe you are talking about. E-mail info. can get passed around to thousands in a matter of a couple to a few days. When a dub here's a rumour such as that......they have at least 5 to 10 people on their mail list they'll send it to. Multiply that by a few dubs who start it, and see how fast the news travels.

Gumby

mustang

I expect that we will hear the last of Last before we hear the last of Religion!!!

Mustang

NeonMadman

A group of scientists recently concluded that the odds of our perceived reality being 'real' were billions to one against.

Now, that's an interesting statement (taken from the Formulism web site). First, I note that they use JW-style quoting - "A group of scientists recently concluded," without offering any citation so that one could check the accuracy of the quotation or the credentials of the group or its members. Second, is this the sort of thing that scientists would ordinarily study? It sounds far more like the work of philosophers to me. Third, on what possible evidence could these "scientists" have based their claim? Are the odds really billions to one, or should it be trillions? Or perhaps only millions? Finally, it would seem to me that scientists, who base their entire body of work on observation and experimentation, would have more of a vested interest than anyone in maintaining belief in the reality of their perceptions. You can do all the experiments in the world, but if reality is hidden to our perceptions, the results are meaningless. If "the odds of our perceived reality being 'real' [are] billions to one against," then those scientists ought to start looking for other work, since any form of what we consider "science" is both meaningless and impossible to conduct.

bikerchic

Weird I got this email from a JW, I basicly ignored it and figured they must all be hot on this news pending the end is near crapola.

Anyway here is the email:

Proposed UN Resolution Would Effectively Ban Religion A draft resolution which aims to secure global peace and stability at the expense of organized religion is today being submitted to the United Nations in New York.
NEW YORK, NY (PRWEB) January 27, 2004 -- A draft resolution which aims to secure global peace and stability at the expense of organized religion is today being submitted to the United Nations in New York.

The resolution is being proposed by Antony Last, founder of formulism.org, a site which claims that freedom FROM religion would be of far greater benefit to mankind than freedom OF religion.

Freedom from Religion | Proposed UN Resolution / Charter Amendment | Version 1.1

WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS HEREBY VOW

* to save succeeding generations from the scourge of organized religion, a folly which has brought untold sorrow to mankind through the division, hatred and conflict it engenders, and

* to reaffirm an individual's right to freedom of belief, freedom of conscience and freedom of prayer, and

* to establish conditions under which these freedoms can be privately exercised.

AND FOR THESE ENDS WE UNDERTAKE

1. To outlaw, with immediate effect, the public expression of religious beliefs, including the use of symbols, clothing or markings which are synonymous with any currently or previously existing religions.

2. To outlaw, with immediate effect, public acts of worship or religious declaration.

3. To outlaw, with immediate effect, private gatherings of three or more people for the purposes of engaging in acts of worship or religious services.

4. To outlaw, with immediate effect, the publication of books, literature or articles which seek to promote religious beliefs or encourage adherence to religious doctrine.

5. To outlaw, after a period of amnesty, the personal ownership of books or materials which seek to promote religious beliefs or encourage adherence to religious doctrine. (Books of academic or social interest will be made freely available to schools, universities and public libraries).

6. To outlaw, with immediate effect, the celebration of religiously significant dates.

7. To begin, with immediate effect, the destruction or reassignment of predominantly religious buildings, such as churches, mosques and temples.

For further information, see:

http://www.formulism.org/news.html <http://64.4.30.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=05762013c8ba6f702d6a95a68f64b4d6&lat=1075583033&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2eformulism%2eorg%2fnews%2ehtml>

United Nations Contact Information

Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General
United Nations, S-378
New York, NY 10017

Press/media inquiries only
Tel. 212-963-7162
Fax. 212-963-7055

All other inquiries to be addressed to (212) 963-4475 or [email protected] </cgi-bin/compose?mailto=1&msg=MSG1075471888.15&start=6682794&len=45954&src=&type=x&to=inquiries%40un%2eorg&cc=&bcc=&subject=&body=&curmbox=F000000001&a=99b0670094689dc58d623b94160f6fef>

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Okay in really reading it further I do see the link to that Anthony Last's website which I visited and whew...is the world getting craizer or am I just more aware?

I would love to respond in some kind of logical way to this JW in fact it was a mass emailing and I could reply to all, any ideas would be welcomed!

Kate

SOMETHING VERY STRANGE?

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