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Question194

What sources do you use for news or history from others' points of view?

• The Bible, religious websites, books, magazine articles, messages in newsgroups. There are lots of sources for such information. I may even ask religious friends for information or their opinion on certain topics. (Michelle Malkin #1)

• I'll pretty much read whatever happens to be within eye-shot at the moment. That includes newspapers, magazines, books, web pages, and pamphlets. I'll occasionally catch some random stuff on the radio or TV, though. For example, I often tape TV shows while I'm at work, then watch them when I get home. When I'm done watching the recorded stuff and am rewinding the tape, the VCR will still be set to show the last channel that was taped. This often happens around 5:00 a.m., which seems to be the most common time for religious shows around here.

  If the preacher is saying something interesting, I'll often watch for a while. One morning, for example, the preacher was discussing the *worst* sin possible -- the sin of unbelief. That kept me amused for almost 10 minutes.

  If someone wants me to see something from his viewpoint, though, I will go to considerable lengths to find the material he recommends. It's usually a waste of time, though, because the material is often so laughable. Not too surprising, since if he isn't articulate enough to explain it to me himself, then the book that persuaded *him* won't do too much for *me*. (Carl Funk #1229)

• Like carl, I will pretty much read anything within my reach. Any time I am waiting, I read, when I come home, I read. Sometimes it's the web, this news group and others, magazines, newspapers, etc. Basically whatever I can get my hands on at any given time. (Michael Wolfe #1912)

• The Bible is the ultimate source to counter fundementalists, it actual gives the names of some of the others, none of them beeing God.

  The Kuran is a good book for commentaries on the bible, Also a good book to proof Khomeiny was a heretic, and that there is no need for many Muslim pratices.

  Messages by Christians are often usefull, to shed light on subjects. Somebody once suggested God could have created himself. This however is impossible unless God does not exist. (something that already exists cannot be created) Hence Omnipotence is impossible.

  However the best source of knowledge has been the theory of evolution. It is - for instance - the only theory that can explain religion :)

  Another good source is my Dutch/English dictionairy

  Wetenschap = Science, Scholarship, learning, knowledge,

  A sentence like "Science is not the best way towards knowledge" becomes completely ridiculous when translated into Dutch. (Peter van Velzen #1107)

• I am very familiar with the reference section of my local library. As I find that is still the best place for data on differing view points. Comparisons are easily made by laying out books from various cultures, and comparing what they each say about an historical time or event.

  Now, when someone comes up with a way to do that on the internet, hmmmmmmmm, looks like a future job prospect ;-) (Rev. Karl E. Taylor #1143)

• The newspaper we get has been slowly turning hard-right conservative, with a weird twist of American-style "Politics 'n' Christianity." Every morning I get a nice bundle of opinions with which I disagree, slanted news, and Christian sermonizing.

  My dad studied theology in university, so I ask him or my mother or look at the theology books, his seven-volume Bibles and commentaries, or his notes from school. My best friend is Wiccan and a religious-studies junkie, so I ask him if I want a different perspective.

  And of course, there's the pure hilarity of fanatical Christian websites, although most of those don't represent sane Christians. (Alex #1951)

• In the broad sense, I'd (think) first of all count foreign magazines and books. Counting for history from other's point of view, I learnt elementary school history during communism.

  But, I guess, the question is mainly about theist points of view; here I use the theists themselves. Ask them (if they didn't slam it in my face already), read up on previous claims, check quotes. I don't read their press; on the few ocassions I tried (Watchtower Magazine, the local "Új Ember" catholic magazine), I got quickly disgusted. (Daneel #323)

• I think that I rely mainly on the same sources. I find that the internet is an extremely good source of information about many things, especially religion. For example, I don't own a bible but the Bible Gateway site is excellent, because I can look up topics by verse, by keyword, or author:

  http://bible.gospelcom.net/

  There are many excellent atheist, agnostic, freethinker sites, most of which you have listed on your website. I also use myYahoo as my homepage, which has a feature called 'newsclipper'. It allows you to get just those news releases dealing with subjects that are most interesting to you. I have one set up for articles on religion, so I can keep an eye on the fundies.

  Although there is so much drivel on these days, it is hard to filter out the noise, but there are some good shows on TV. The History Channel, Discovery, PBS, A&E have many good programs. For strict news, I find most reporting leaning to the sensational, or 'human interest' stories. The exception is BBC World News which I try to catch on PBS every night. I usually listen to NPR radio in my car while going to and from work.

  I also subscribe to two newspapers. The San Diego Union-Tribune, which has a conservative slant, but I get mainly for the local news, and the LA Times.

  Plus I have my books, magazines, newsletters and the like.

  The problem is: So much information, so little time! (John Hachmann #1782

• [1] For general reading and news, whatever happens to be handy. I get most of my news off the internet since this is the most readily available source of news regarding things which interest me. I find the BBC website to be an excellent source of international news that appears to be less biased than the American media.

  I will also ask people what they think of various topics if they have shown me that they can be reliable.

  [2] Regarding religious matters, what little I know of the matter has been learned here on this group. Otherwise, the subject does not interest me at all. (Erikc #002)

• The newspaper - no newspapers agree with me 100%, and then STOP-TV sometimes (that's a TV-program from the far, far, far left). I try to balance the two to get both angles on things... As for religion - I still haven't found anything religious which I found worth reading, but there's lots of other issues in life to agree or disagree on - I hope that answers the question... (Nikitta #1759)