( I feel so stupid saying that, anyway...)My real name is Bradley and I am brand new to this forum. I was invited by Cheryl (hi Cheryl!) and am looking forward to many cerebral conversations about the books the forum is discussing and other related (or not so related) topics. A little about myself:I'm going back to college after leaving an icky belief system. I haven't decided on my major yet although I am leaning toward philosophy or the humanities. I would love to teach, preferrably at the collegiate level someday. My interests include the aforementioned subjects along with evolutionary biology, psychology and most of the subjects in the format of this board (except any UFO talk). I also enjoy my dog, jogging, anything Jazz and an occassional martini. Some of the books I have read in whole or in part over the last few months: "How We Believe" by Michael Shermer"The Origin of Satan" by Elaine Pagels"The Flight of Peter Fromm" by Martin Gardner"Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism" by J.S. Spong"God's Debris" by the Dilbert guy (forgot his name)Anyway, there's more. Glad to be here and I look forward to getting to know you all beter!

Brad,Wahoo! I'm really glad you made it! Go ahead and jump in on the discussions. I look forward to your input. Did you find the chat room and figure out how it works?Cheryl

Cheryl,I left the computer after I posted my introduction so I have not had a chance to check out the "chat room" yet. One step at a time...Bradley

Welcome, Brad!! Good to have you!Jump right into the discussions! --Avatar"The computer is the most extraordinary part of Man's technological clothing: it is an extension of our central nervous system. Beside it the wheel is a mere hula-hoop." -- Marshall McLuhan

Johnny Neuron:Umm...I laugh when I say your name too. Welcome to Booktalk! I would love to hear more about this icky belief system you refer to. And you ought to put a pushpin in our GuestMap! Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the "GuestMap" icon.Chris "Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." -- Albert Einstein"If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being." - Jerry Falwell"I don't see any god up here." - Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (the first man in space), speaking from orbit, 1961.Edited by: Chris OConnor  at: 10/29/02 6:25:32 pm

Great to have you Bradley!Philosophy is a favorite topic for me as well. We'll have to discuss our views sometime. Do you have a favorite philosopher?

I don't know what I was thinking..."Johnny Neuron"....sounds like a silly comic book charachter or something! Anyway, thanks for the welcome. I look forward to getting to know you all and discuss threads of interest.Regarding my former belief system: well, I don't like to engage in too much "bashing" of my former religion, but I used to be a Jehovah's Witness. I was very committed to my belief system and was quite involved in their proselytizing efforts. Unfortunately, they can be quite dogmatic about even the most minor matters and I started to have serious inner doubts about a year and a half ago. I started to research areas of science, history, theology and philosophy outside the corpus of the JW literature. Although I still hold a certain amount of respect for their stand on such issues as pacifism, I do fatally disagree with most of their beliefs and practices. All my family is still in, so it's been a little difficult finding friends who are not JWs (all the JWs I know except one shun me, yes I said shun me :-O) Oh well, life goes on.I would consider myself somewhat of an agnostic right now. I certainly don't believe in the Judeo-Christian God as He is traditionally represented. I tend to view God as "the ground of our being" or "ultimate reality" as Paul Tillich put it. Could there be an external Deity(s) "out there?" I just don't know...Anyway, favorite philosopher...well, I cannot pick out one above all the rest but I do enjoy the worldviews and ideas of Bertrand Russell, David Hume, Friedrich Nietzsche and (of all people) Soren Kierkegard. Nietzsche is way over the top at times, but you gotta love that about him! Kierkegard is a romantic, no doubt; even though I am not a believer I find his idea of a "leap of faith" quite dramatic and inspiring. My philosophy of life probably corresponds to Russell the most. Basically his view was to hold two things above all others: love and reason. If I could exemplify both these traits in my life it will have stood for something. Glad to have met you all!Bradley

Interesting, we have Hume in common. I've been toying with the idea of starting a thread on Hume's Essays on suicide. Nothing good could come of that, but that's probably why I'm drawn by it.Kierkegard scares the shit out of me. No doubt he is a man of great intellect, but his capacity whip the religious community into a frothing mass is downright frightening. He's up there with C.S. Lewis, Josh McDowell, and Duane Kishe (sp?). I mean, people keep him on the shelf next to the Bible.Anyway, I love the classics, despite the shortcomings, their idealism inspires me.

Drunkenblade- It's Duane Gish. He's a hoot ain't he! As is Josh Mc Dowell. Which reminds me I've also read "Mind Siege" by Tim LaHaye- Have to keep tabs on the enemy camp to see what kind of crap you're up against. He's painted quite a satanic picture of Secular Humanists. It's really good to keep up with that sort of stuff because when dolts make their shallow utterances its easier to let them know exactly how full of Sh!* you know they are. Somebody mentioned Spong- I also read "Why Christianity must Change or Die" with in the last few months. Poor old John, He's clinging to Christianity by the skin of his teeth.

Welcome!! I've only been here a couple of days, and I already feel like part of the family The people here are great, I'm betting you'll enjoy it!-rage