I think it turned out very well. It made my morning.

Great! You beat me to the punch, Andy. I was just made aware of the article a little bit ago, and I was going to post about it. Good job everybody!

Hey guys,

this article was brought to my attention by my mother. she said i took a good picture…lol

The article was very straight forward. I liked it. I believe that it will get a good reading from the city of churchs.

I second the motion for our offical 19th century law clerk.

During a brief period of insomnia I somehow found this group. I cannot explain in simple words how happy I am to find that there are people in this area that think as I do. I am thrilled that this cause is getting the attention it deserves, and look forward to meeting you all at you next meeting on 8/12. Thank you! I can only hope that I’m not the only one that is inspired by this article.

Compadrés,

Hello! I saw the article today, and it looks great. Rosa definitely did a good job. That description of Chad is really awesome, too. (-:

See you soon!

-Andy W.

Very nicely done. I don’t see how any reasonable person could object, but of course someone will. It’s nice to see some new names here.

-John

I’m particularly impressed and grateful that Rosa didn’t see the need to include an opposing viewpoint. That was a very good article – as littlejohn said, I could find nothing really substantial to which I would object.

m

Wow, I looked up the article this morning and was not expecting my name to be the first thing I saw…

JP, it’s great to have you; keep an eye on the page as we might have a Coffee Klatch or other social gathering before the next meeting. I know exactly what you mean about being thrilled to find like minded individuals in Ft. Wayne. That’s a big part of why myself and others here choose to be vocal, so we can spread the point that’s it’s alright to not believe and that you’re not alone here.

It’s great to see there are people who think like I do right here in the ‘City of Churches.

Rickey,

Glad to see your comment — hello from your former employee down in the switchboard! Hope you can come to a future meeting or coffee klatch. Check back at this site often for announcements. (-:

-Andy Welfle

My wife and I both enjoyed it, and appreciate the JG’s recent deemphasis of faith articles as against items like this. There was another recent article on differing beliefs that featured some members of the local Unitarian Universalist congregation (to which we belong) although it didn’t identify them as such. Which is a seque to mentioning that your values have a great deal in common with the UU principles.

I do have one question, though. As both an “radical agnostic” and a UU, I can’t quite find it inmyself to that that there is no god … just to say that I see no evidence of such a theistic construction. I see that your group is considering affiliating with an international group of atheists. How is that possible? Doesn’t that contradict the very concept of free thought? It seems to me that free thinkers should, by definition, be open to all viewpoints on such a fundamental matter.

BTW, I was disappointed to learn that we missed Bob Price’s last visit here. Can I arrange to be put on your email list?

I may be able to clear something up John. Most of us who call ourselves Atheists see it as simply lacking a belief in a theistic god, personally as to the existence of some type of deistic god who maybe set the ball rolling and either sits back and watches or wandered off to another universe I remain agnostic.

As to the way I live my life, the only type of god that I can see any plausibility for is one which would have no real interest in me ergo one who does not require my worship or attention either. You’d be VERY hard pressed to find someone who calls themselves an Atheist who also asserts that they know that there is no type of deity whatsoever.

We vary on the degree of plausibility we attribute to various types of gods… That YAHWEH conceived Jesus in Mary to be the salvation of mankind, I reject wholly. That there is one God and Muhammad is his prophet, I reject wholly. That the Flying Spaghetti Monster is the one try deity, I reject wholly. That Zeus is the most powerful god, I reject wholly. That all the gods are aspects of Brahman, I reject wholly. etc, etc, etc, for the many thousands of deities mankind has constructed over the eons and I can give good cause for doing so upon request. However Spinoza’s god, while still seeming implausible to me, Is not one that I could completely rule out and one that I would have no desire to as it is not a god that would have ANY impact on my life whatsoever.

From our About page, “FreeThought is a philosophical viewpoint that holds that beliefs should be formed on the basis of science and logical principles and not be compromised by authority, tradition, or any other dogma”. Most Atheists, Agnostics, probably most members of your UU congregation would fit well into this definition. There is no dogma to atheism, and while there is a long tradition of philosophical thinking it’s not something that any Atheist I know adheres to without critically evaluating their claims (I can’t think of a single one of the philosophers whom I admire that I don’t disagree with on some points). The simple fact of how often we debate amongst ourselves on various points is a clear indication that we’re all approaching these issues through our own critical thinking. As a note these are pretty well always constructive, friendly, and informal debates where we all walk away a little wiser for the effort.

That the Flying Spaghetti Monster is the one try deity, I reject wholly.

My God, the infidels you find around here these days…

I’d just add that agnostic-gnostic and atheist-theist are, of course, separate continua, the former dealing with knowledge (or at least claims thereto) and the latter dealing with belief. John, you may be interested in the first Dial-an-Atheist episode, where Jake and I discuss some of these terms, and what we mean by them.

Nice write-up. Rosa did a fantastic job of describing freethought for those who may be interested.

Keep up the great work !

I just wanted to congratulate you guys on the good press. Katie and I were impressed (and relieved) by the article. I hope this brings some positive community involvement and “like-minded individuals” to the gatherings.

I read the article with amazement. Who knew there was an organized group in FW with similar feelings about religion? I look forward to attending one of your meetings and learning more about your group.