30 March 2012

My nice letter to the Jehova's Witnesses.

Kingdom Hall
31 Market Street
Sheffield S13 7PD

18th March 2012


Dear Sir or Madam

I have received an invitation today to attend your event on the 5th April, when I am invited to “listen to scriptural answers” and one on the 8th April when I am invited to a “discourse”. In fact your flyer asks me “How I view Jesus” and then invites me to hear “the answer”. Your flyer does not state who will be giving the talks or mention their qualification to do so. It does however mention that “Jesus is now reigning as an exalted king” which I feel I have to take issue with.

I have read much on the subject of the New Testament including A.N. Wilson’s excellent book on the subject of Jesus and I doubt that you have reached the same conclusion as I have about how to view Jesus. I would particularly like to hear about evidence for Jesus’ existence outside of the Bible and what your cult makes of the many virgin birth and resurrection stories that preceded Jesus.

Are you able to confirm that there will be a question and answer each talk? Otherwise it would seem a little pointless to turn-up if I am just going to be preached at.

I look forward to receiving further information about this event so that I can make up my mind if it will be beneficial for me to attend. Alternatively I am happy to address your group separately regarding my understanding of Jesus from an atheist perspective. Do you have guest speakers of different persuasions?

I look forward to hearing from you.


Yours faithfully


Philip Gilbert.

28 March 2012

Love and Gods.

Love is not about being obedient. It is about being true to what we are. We can only genuinely love if we do not deny the knowledge that is available to us or aspects of ourselves that we are not comfortable with.

Why would we be expected to love someone who sets out to deprive us of loyalty to ourselves, as in the case of Adam and Eve? Only a sadistic pedagogue of a God would tell of the tree of knowledge and then forbid eating its fruit.

Today we have access to almost limitless information and no-one can forbid those of us lucky enough to live in free society from trying to understand and make sense of our role in this World. Atheists can communicate like never before and we have shown time and again how we can come together to challenge religious absurdity. When God’s appointees at the highest mortal level begin to defend their position by attacking militant atheism, we know just how much the tree of knowledge is defeating their dogma.

People now demand the freedom to access knowledge as a basic human right and it is that expectation that will undermine and topple theocracy.