Promoting Reason in a Highly Superstitious Society
I am the host of the morning show at 88.2 Sanyu FM here in Kampala… and on radio I am known as ‘Fatboy’. 
I also produce a personal weekly podcast called Fatboy Unplugged, and in the most recent episode I evaluate – or rather, eviscerate – the common arguments put forward by those who support discriminatory laws against, and attitudes towards, homosexuals in Uganda.
Skepticism generally refers to :
…any questioning attitude towards knowledge, facts, or opinions/beliefs stated as facts, or doubt regarding claims that are taken for granted elsewhere.
There are many things we are told we should not question. Many religious, cultural beliefs fall in this category of things for which questions must be never asked. There are also all kinds of social and economic ideologies that are taken for granted. Other times we believe things for the simple reason that a lot of people seem to believe it.
This month, we’d once again like to take a look at some of the things we think we should all be more vigilant in asking questions about – and how to go about asking those questions in such a way that we can be fairly confident that we have arrived at the correct conclusion.
Might there be limits on how skeptical we should get?
Can one be skeptical of skepticism itself?
Come join the discussion!
The April 2012 Freethinkers’ Night will take place on Thursday, 26th April, at 4 Points Bar & Restaurant, Centenary Park, Kampala, starting 6PM.
Entrance is FREE.
If you are an open minded person whose opinions are formed on the basis of science, logic, and reason and are interested in meeting like-minded individuals – you are more than welcome to join us.
Born Again in the United States of Uganda is the name of a documentary being produced and directed by Samantha Asumadu, who describes herself as a “documentary filmmaker, campaigner & sometime DJ”:
There is a web of entanglement between U.S. evangelicals, fundamentalists, conservatives and African clergy that exists to maintain a power structure and a severe homophobic agenda that serves the hard-core religious groups. This documentary will be the definitive film that shows that the American evangelical right invests heavily in financial and advocacy effort in influencing religious Africans to shun gay rights and that the Ugandan Anti-Gay Bill was an import from the West. Uganda is the test bed for Texas.
In the documentary, Samantha follows the religious fervor surrounding the push to get the Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009 passed:
She also captures a debate about the bill by members of Freethought Kampala, who believe that people should not be discriminated against on the basis of their sexual orientation. This was taped almost 2 years ago:
She hopes to complete the documentary soon. Looks interesting so far!
Samantha Asumadu’s e-mail: samantha.asumadu@gmail.com
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I am a strong proponent of disruptive technologies and what their impact is on societies and economies.
Disruptive technology is a term coined by Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen to describe a new technology that unexpectedly displaces an established technology.
Everyone knows the impact of such technology on the music industry through the rise of peer to peer technologies such as Napster, Limewire, torrents etc. global music sales have nearly halved in 10 years from 1999 to 2009 when they moved from $15bn to $7bn. We are clearly witnessing the trend in media where the coming of alternative media through social networking, YouTube, personal blogging and podcasts is threatening the life of major publications worldwide as the industry has been disrupted by this alternative freely available, free to share and collaborate on technology.
Furthermore, we are also well aware of open-source software and its impact. We can mention lots of projects going on in the world of software from major operating systems like Linux Vs Windows, to accounting software like Front Accounting Vs Quick Books, and mobile phone software like Android Vs Mac OS. open-source software is more collaborative, free to distribute and modify, and is building communities around them. These are the key attributes of this open-source model.
What we are now witnessing around the world is a movement towards open-source hardware, and at this point, this is where I feel we need to put some attention. This movement is sharing designs, instructions, parts lists, wikis and all detail concerning the making of machines, creating a global community of collaborators and replicators and is publishing all their works on the internet.
The reason I feel that we need to put some attention to this movement is because hardware is something that can change people’s lives in such material and tangible ways. The examples discussed above on music, media, software have enabled many of us access the technologies either free of charge or at a low cost. Therefore open-source model is not only a low cost model, but a model to achieve a mass impact on our communities.
So what does open-source hardware avail us? One of the most fascinating projects I am following is Open Source Ecology. This is an organisation that is publishing an open-source DIY list of 50 machines, called the Global Village Construction Set (GVCS), a single DVD with all the information on what it would take to create a civilization with modern day comforts. The list includes bread ovens, circuit makers, computer controlled machines, wind turbines, tractors, brick making machines and so on, all following the attributes of open-source model.
Not only can we breakthrough into farming, manufacturing and construction through the reduced barriers of entry like high cost and copyright, but also be able to disrupt the current economic and social setting which is dominated by artificial scarcity, increasing our chances of solving problems that our societies and country is facing at large. When we are faced with a power shortage, we have steam engine plans; when we are faced with the housing crisis like the one we are faced with right now of a shortage of over 500,000 units, we will have an open-source Compressed earth brick machines which make 5,000 bricks a day (effectively 1hourse per day).
I am able to point at many other examples of open hardware and how its changing our lives like the Earth Bag building technique which is a low cost housing method which I personally have tested and is a real solution to our housing needs.
I wish to share this information with Freethought Kampala members at the March Freethinkers’ Night. I believe that it’s about time we implemented some real solutions to our problems. And what better way to do this than by starting with an education process that exposes such disruptive technologies!
Presented by: Mulinya Mulinya
The March 2012 Freethinkers’ Night will take place on Thursday, 29th March, at 4 Points Bar & Restaurant, Centenary Park, Kampala, starting 6PM. Entrance is FREE.
If you are an open minded person whose opinions are formed on the basis of science, logic, and reason and are interested in meeting like-minded individuals – you are more than welcome to join us.
Anyone familiar with charismatic expressions of Christian belief in Uganda (mainly through Pentecostal/Balokole/Born-Again/Evangelical churches) knows that emotions and fanfare play a large part in the proceedings.
Typically struggling with everyday problems and desperate for divine intervention, every week (and sometimes more frequently) millions of believers flock to these churches in search for their ‘miracle’. Problems such as unemployment, marital trouble, poverty, and illness are deferred to Jesus Christ who they believe will solve those problems, or give them the strength to persevere through them.
In Charismatic Christianity in Uganda (Part 1 – Introduction) I wrote that:
The popularity of this form of Christianity has exploded over the last few decades because the doctrine promises poor, under-educated believers miraculous solutions to their everyday problems. Understandably, on an impoverished continent like this one, a religion that offers quick fixes to all the pressing problems in life will be immensely popular, and that is exactly what we see happening. Among charismatic Christians, things like unemployment, failure of business, failure of marriage, sickness, corruption in government… all the problems an individual or society could possibly face… are attributed to Satan, demons and other evil spirits – and Jesus is presented as the antidote.
Such an iteration of Christianity fits perfectly well with the mindset of most native Africans, most of whom have, since time immemorial, taken seriously the perceived threat of curses inflicted upon them by spirits and other bad omens. This is probably why charismatic Christianity has proven to be a raging success in sub-Saharan Africa.
This has literally created a cottage industry of make-shift balokole churches all over the country, typically run by unscrupulous, opportunistic individuals looking to earn a living from the lucrative business of ‘selling’ Jesus.
Competition is fierce among pastors of rival local balokole churches, after all, having more worshippers usually means bigger collections.
Indeed, this competition for ever bigger collections has produced a crop of what can best be described as showmen, rather than clergymen – evangelists, who, using their knowledge of human psychology are able to enthrall the masses with charismatic styles of preaching. By also knowing which emotional buttons to press, they are able to compel hordes of their desperate followers to part with their meager earnings in exchange for the promise of a miracle. Many of them are now also televangelists, recording their sermons and broadcasting them on television to broaden their reach.
It is difficult to tell who among these characters actually believes in the things they teach, and who are just doing it as a business. What we are seeing is probably a combination of both. Perhaps they see themselves as providing encouragement to their desperate flock, and feel that the ends justify the means. So whatever it takes to get the the people excited and motivated, is what they will do. People want spectacle – and the evangelists supply it by the truckload. Speaking in tongues, casting out demons, slaying the spirit, shouting, yelling, ‘healing’ and singing – all of it working up the flock into a frenzy, almost to the point of hysteria.
These kind of evangelists are not unique to Uganda, or Africa.
Evangelists like these have been in business in the United States for years, and many of the successful ones are even well known to Ugandans. Lighthouse Television, which is the local Trinity Broadcasting Network affiliate, on a daily basis broadcasts sermons and crusades by such televangelists as Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer, T.D Jakes, Creflo Dollar and others.
Ever stopped to ask yourself how they pull it off?
This Freethinkers’ Night, we will be screening the Academy Award winning 1972 documentary titled Marjoe:
Part documentary, part expose, this film follows one-time child evangelist Marjoe Gortner on the "church tent" Revivalist circuit, commenting on the showmanship of Evangelism and "the religion business", prior to the start of "televangelism".
In this film, Marjoe Gortner (his real name) takes us behind the scenes to show us the ‘tricks of the trade’ in modern evangelism. After watching this, you’ll never look at a church service or revival the same again.
The February 2012 Freethinkers’ Night will take place on Thursday, 23rd February, at 4 Points Bar & Restaurant, Centenary Park, Kampala, starting 6PM. Entrance is FREE.
If you are an open minded person whose opinions are formed on the basis of science, logic, and reason and are interested in meeting like-minded individuals – you are more than welcome to join us.
Yesterday marked two years since launching the Freethought Kampala blog!
The very first blog post was published on January 30th 2010. Since then, there have been 222 posts published (not including this one).
As of this writing, the blog has attracted 97,953 hits.
The following were the most read posts over the last 12 months:
Other highlights:
Let’s see what 2012 has in store for Freethought activism in Uganda.
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La Raison is a monthly magazine published by the Fédération Nationale de la Libre Pensée (National Federation of Freethought) in France.
We were interviewed for the January 2012 edition.
Many of us understand the importance of thinking things through when it comes to forming beliefs about how best to deal with different aspects of our lives, such as when it comes to making important decisions.
Examples:
Still, we often make bad decisions. Why?
It could be because there are roadblocks we’ve erected in our minds that prevent us from examining all the evidence objectively, or impartially, prior to forming beliefs. These mental roadblocks might be pre-existing beliefs that have been informed by culture, religion, political/social ideologies, personal prejudices, peer pressure, etc.
Having these mental roadblocks is one problem; the other problem is not knowing that you have those mental roadblocks. But perhaps the worst problem of all is not acknowledging that as human beings all of us are susceptible to having these mental roadblocks, at any given time. Acknowledging this should compel us to structure our thinking in such a way as to minimise, as much as possible, the degree to which these mental roadblocks might impede our ability to think objectively.
We should be willing to evaluate all kinds of information, including information that might go against what we currently believe about something, without allowing our mental roadblocks to interfere with that evaluation process. We also need to train ourselves to be able to use logic effectively – and to consistently use it when trying to make inferences about what it is we are forming beliefs about. We must also question our methods of reasoning. This, in a nutshell, is what it means to think critically.
Edward M. Glaser in his 1941 book “An Experiment in the Development of Critical Thinking” describes critical thinking as:
A persistent effort to examine any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the evidence that supports it and the further conclusions to which it tends.
Youtuber Qualia Soup explains what critical thinking is in this video:
As a freethinker, I advocate for the application of critical thinking across the board, on all issues, and I also encourage people to be consistent in their application of it. Indeed, I often have to remind myself to be consistent as well, because I know that mental roadblocks can pop up anytime, and unbeknownst to me, some might already be lurking about in my mind.
It is not easy to consistently apply critical thinking – but there is great value in striving to be as consistent as is humanly possible in our application of it.
THE DISCUSSION
In a world where all kinds of people are offering all kinds of get-rich-quick schemes or miracle cures for all kinds of ailments, it greatly helps to be a critical thinker. A person who applies critical thinking will be less likely to lose money to professional con-artists or fall prey to medical quackery. He or she will also be able to do a better job of analyzing problems and finding solutions to them. People who think critically will probably make better business/investment decisions as well, as compared to people who don’t.
From a social perspective, a good critical thinker is also less likely to hold prejudices that would prompt him or her to discriminate against people on the basis of race, tribe, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation. He or she will also be less likely to engage in extreme forms of religious expression that are detrimental to their well-being, and the well-being of others.
What we’d like to discuss at the upcoming Freethinkers’ Night is HOW to communicate CRITICAL THINKING to the general public.
How do we encourage people to apply critical thinking, and to apply it consistently, in their lives? How do we get people to recognize that their mental roadblocks might be preventing them from thinking objectively?
Let’s discuss.
This is a crucial issue for us, as it touches on what we consider to be our mandate as Freethought Kampala, which is:
Promoting Reason in a Highly Superstitious Society
Much of our focus for the last two years has been mainly to apply critical thinking in the evaluation of popular mystical/religious claims that abound in this country’s spiritual landscape – because there was simply nobody doing it. We acknowledge that the scope for critical thinking is much wider than this, but for strategic reasons we initially chose to narrow our focus to an area that we felt was being completely neglected in the national discourse. Perhaps at this meeting we might also talk about this focus, and whether or not we should broaden it.
The January 2012 Freethinkers’ Night will take place on Thursday, 26th January, at 4 Points Bar & Restaurant, Centenary Park, Kampala, starting 6PM. Entrance is FREE.
If you are an open minded person whose opinions are formed on the basis of science, logic, and reason and are interested in meeting like-minded individuals – you are more than welcome to join us.
Oh, and we’ll also be marking 2 years of Freethought Kampala as well!
Thursday, 29th December, at 4 Points Bar & Restaurant, Centenary Park, Kampala, starting 6PM. Entrance is FREE.
If you are an open minded person whose opinions are formed on the basis of science, logic, and reason and are interested in meeting like-minded individuals – you are welcome to join us for our end of year party.
Just one thing, though…
I dug up some photographs from my recent trip to the UK. I thought I’d share with you some interesting things I saw in the city of Cardiff while I was there.
From afar it looked like a church:
Closer inspection revealed that it was actually a shop!
Care for Durex condoms? No problem…
…just check right below the hookah (sheesha pipe).
This shop actually used to be a Presbyterian Church, once upon a time. People stopped going, and it got sold off.
Now it’s a shop.
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