Atheist, Agnostic, Catholic, Hindu, Eclectic - Fun with heresy at the Coffee Bean
The discussion was to start at 430pm at The Coffee Bean. I saw a Hindu girl I knew in the corner, exchanged Ram Ram with her. When I told her about the atheist discussion and film, she raised her eyebrows at me. I told her.. with no authority.. that atheism (skepticism, enquiry) is allowed in Hinduism .
I showed her the Richard Dawkins book 'The God Delusion' and she showed her friend who had on a badge with a picture of Jesus. He looked at the back of the book, and then said 'oh scientists' and gave me back the book.
People started coming in. It was funny and interesting.. most of the people were from the Facebook group and had not met in person before even though they might have argued or agreed on different issues. One guy asked me at 450pm.. I thought you guys were starting at 430pm.. we said .. sorry, because we wanted to let people come. Later on he said he hoped to enjoy his coffee and sandwich while watching the film. Next time we will start on time.
Another woman came in a said she was so happy to find a group.. she used to be a member of two American atheist groups. I was happy that she was there. When she told me her political work in Guyana though.. I wanted to pray, curse , invoke the spirits.. but... that is another story.. about who's who in the political campaigning.
The film started.. Alternatively called the Root of all Evil/The God Delusion Part 1 - it was brightly coloured, and Richard Dawkins is a wonderful entertainer if nothing else. The film was about Catholics, Jews, Muslims and the conflict in the Holy Land.. who later went on to seek counselling and so on for his relationship with Mike Jones. I of course was smug because Dawkins really could not take on Hindu theology (theology is a western thing though).. in his book he talked about the Gujarat massacres as being the kind of evil which Hindus are capable of in the name of their religion.
The audience ranged from children in school uniform to a long time lecturer in Physics and Mathematics (one of the first to teach at Jagan's night school in 1965)
And then the fun part started.. I offered in my nice Hindu way to moderate the discussion .. which was lively, active.. The first question.. profoundly philosophical I thought.. was 'What is this group about? What is atheism?" .. kind of like 'Why do we exist'.. and Ferlin, main heretic , explained. Then it continued, the documentary, the flaws with it, what was nice about.. and then whether religion and science could co-exist; and creation and evolution. At some point, I was asked to ensure that the women in the group spoke.. one woman said she felt that people were not talking musing about atheism, but rather sticking to their own beliefs. Another woman said she liked Dawkins and is atheist. A young girl said she was just having fun. A young man was interrupted from his texting.. said he felt people missed some points of the documentary (I believe he tuned out for a bit). but said he thinks the group should have a more structured debate with pros and cons side rather than the free flowing whatever .. I responded by saying that chaos is the order of the Universe. Deep, I know.
There was the discussion about 'where are the moderates who might not agree with supreme authorities'.. and how those moderates in the end help to prop up supreme authority.
And we had to stop at some point.. these discussions are never ending. I asked two people who were silent .. and then realised one was wearing a crucifix. He was described as an 'open-minded Christian'.. and the other guy said he was Catholic . I asked if after the film, if he was still Catholic.. he said yes.
I remembered .. a long time ago, when during the 'gay rights debate' in 2003, when Lurlene Nestor was an MP. She organised with the GYSM to have a discussion with the fledgling SASOD then. I ended up being the only representative there and having to moderate and to be the main proponent. It was an open venue, in Durban Street. It was a crowd of people who did not know each other. The back and forth was emotional and lively and full of all kind of thing.. but at no point did I feel threatened for speaking out, or were there any cussing down or humiliations. It has been over eight years.. and all of my Hindu deities (or the one which is in all of us) gave me good blessings (or I took them back) by putting me back in a place where it was possible to connect with people who I might sometimes disagree with.
I showed her the Richard Dawkins book 'The God Delusion' and she showed her friend who had on a badge with a picture of Jesus. He looked at the back of the book, and then said 'oh scientists' and gave me back the book.
People started coming in. It was funny and interesting.. most of the people were from the Facebook group and had not met in person before even though they might have argued or agreed on different issues. One guy asked me at 450pm.. I thought you guys were starting at 430pm.. we said .. sorry, because we wanted to let people come. Later on he said he hoped to enjoy his coffee and sandwich while watching the film. Next time we will start on time.
Another woman came in a said she was so happy to find a group.. she used to be a member of two American atheist groups. I was happy that she was there. When she told me her political work in Guyana though.. I wanted to pray, curse , invoke the spirits.. but... that is another story.. about who's who in the political campaigning.
The film started.. Alternatively called the Root of all Evil/The God Delusion Part 1 - it was brightly coloured, and Richard Dawkins is a wonderful entertainer if nothing else. The film was about Catholics, Jews, Muslims and the conflict in the Holy Land.. who later went on to seek counselling and so on for his relationship with Mike Jones. I of course was smug because Dawkins really could not take on Hindu theology (theology is a western thing though).. in his book he talked about the Gujarat massacres as being the kind of evil which Hindus are capable of in the name of their religion.
The audience ranged from children in school uniform to a long time lecturer in Physics and Mathematics (one of the first to teach at Jagan's night school in 1965)
And then the fun part started.. I offered in my nice Hindu way to moderate the discussion .. which was lively, active.. The first question.. profoundly philosophical I thought.. was 'What is this group about? What is atheism?" .. kind of like 'Why do we exist'.. and Ferlin, main heretic , explained. Then it continued, the documentary, the flaws with it, what was nice about.. and then whether religion and science could co-exist; and creation and evolution. At some point, I was asked to ensure that the women in the group spoke.. one woman said she felt that people were not talking musing about atheism, but rather sticking to their own beliefs. Another woman said she liked Dawkins and is atheist. A young girl said she was just having fun. A young man was interrupted from his texting.. said he felt people missed some points of the documentary (I believe he tuned out for a bit). but said he thinks the group should have a more structured debate with pros and cons side rather than the free flowing whatever .. I responded by saying that chaos is the order of the Universe. Deep, I know.
There was the discussion about 'where are the moderates who might not agree with supreme authorities'.. and how those moderates in the end help to prop up supreme authority.
And we had to stop at some point.. these discussions are never ending. I asked two people who were silent .. and then realised one was wearing a crucifix. He was described as an 'open-minded Christian'.. and the other guy said he was Catholic . I asked if after the film, if he was still Catholic.. he said yes.
I remembered .. a long time ago, when during the 'gay rights debate' in 2003, when Lurlene Nestor was an MP. She organised with the GYSM to have a discussion with the fledgling SASOD then. I ended up being the only representative there and having to moderate and to be the main proponent. It was an open venue, in Durban Street. It was a crowd of people who did not know each other. The back and forth was emotional and lively and full of all kind of thing.. but at no point did I feel threatened for speaking out, or were there any cussing down or humiliations. It has been over eight years.. and all of my Hindu deities (or the one which is in all of us) gave me good blessings (or I took them back) by putting me back in a place where it was possible to connect with people who I might sometimes disagree with.
If I were home I would have found the time to be at this discussion...would've showed up with an open mind. Signed, a Catholic girl
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