From: kilroy@gboro.glassboro.edu (Dr Nancy's Sweetie)
Subject: Care in Quoting (Dawkins/_The Selfish Gene_)
Summary: We have made small progress, and are now at an impasse.
Keywords: truth, honesty, care, misleading quotes, `Splash!'
Organization: Glassboro State College
Disclaimer: Brandy the WonderDog needs a bath.  Brandy does not LIKE baths.
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 18:56:00 GMT


I think this discussion, or at least my part of it, has concluded its useful
life.  The quotes as presented from the Watchtower book seem very likely to
mislead people; those are grounds for criticising said book, regardless of
whether it is useful as a whole, or whether the confusion is intentional.

Mark Sornson writes:

> If I expressed any personal disatisfaction with something that was written
> in public, it may give someone the satisfaction of knowing that I'm not just
> gulping things down without thinking; but I try to keep my own opinions in
> perspective, that being that I think that what the Watchtower Society
> writes, when taken as a whole, is very valuable, and that the value of their
> literature by far outweighs the flaws that any nit-picker can find.

But those flaws, however small, do exist.  By berating the people who point
them out, you do yourselves no favor.  You blamed CJ Silverio for being misled
by a Watchtower book -- as if it is the reader's responsibility to guess what
kinds of mistakes the writers will make and correct for them!

I'm sorry, but I expect better from Christians; when they write something that
misleads people, I expect them to accept a reasonable amount of the blame.
Not to berate the people who were misled.


> [O]f all the claims of error that I've investigated -- and by this, I mean
> claims of faulty scholarship, deliberate deception, and the like, which I've
> been able to investigate -- I have never found myself in agreement with the
> critics, and thus in that respect, have never found fault.

Then the JWs and I simply have different notions of Christian responsibility
toward truth.  A Creationist who writes a book and quotes scientists has the
responsibility to ensure that he does not misrepresent the quoted people.
Some of the excerpts offered in this group have included strong protests from
the quoted scientists, who were angered at the suggestion that they endorse
the creationist ideas of the JWs.

If I wrote such a book, I would send a copy of the relevant portions to every
cited source and offer them a chance to respond.  I might even say "You have
150 words to state your opinions on Evolution and Creationism, and whether you
see evidence for a Creator", and publish their paragraphs in an appendix to
the book.

Yes, it would be a pain; yes, it would be a lot of work.  Maybe nobody has
done it before; maybe it will cost a lot more to finish the book.  But I think
all of those considerations are FAR outweighed by the most important one: that
Christians must be careful to ensure that everything they say is true both in
literal meaning and implication.  Jesus said that he *was* the truth -- any
devotion to him must also include devotion to examining all details and all
arguments; it must include going to extremes like checking with sources before
quoting them.  If for some reason these things can't be done, then it should
be clearly noted by the writer(s) that certain references/quotes are not as
carefully checked as they could be.  Anything less is, to me, derelection of
duty.

I believe that Christianity includes a duty to insist on careful attention to
all details, to ensure that all quotes and citations of authorites are
accurate and in keeping with the intent of the authors -- in sum, to ensure
that everything reasonable is done to prevent misleading people.  It is clear
to me from both official Watchtower publications and statements by JWs on the
net that the JW religion has no such devotion to truth; instead of taking
responsibility for misleading people, everybody denies that that quotes are
misleading.  Instead of offering people a chance to review intended quotes
before publication, Watchtower writers chop quotes out of context and select
only certain phrases.

No group of people will ever be 100% perfect in what they publish; but the
reaction to some of the more glaring errors mentioned during the last few
weeks speaks volumes.  In some cases, it is claimed that there isn't really an
error at all.  In others, no response is given at all -- nothing.

I believe the actions of the Watchtower, and the reactions we've seen here
(both refusing to accept blame for some problems, and complete silence on
others) are not appropriate for Christians; this is one of my basic
philosophical disagreements with the JWs.  As it seems unlikely we can resolve
our differing opinions about Christian responsibility, further discussion is
probably worthless.


Darren F Provine / kilroy@gboro.glassboro.edu
"Anyone can be simple if he has no facts to bother about." -- CS Lewis
Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc