Newton Joseph, Ph.D

Good come back, Sam!

As an atheist, I have no doubt that the late Newton will not be reading this, so this post isn't intended for him. I also know that Newton would agree with my views on the lack of gods and an afterlife. This message is for his friends.

I had long suspected that he died. He was too passionate in his beliefs (or lack thereof) to stay away for long. He was an entertaining writer who didn't suffer fools gladly. I miss his contributions to this forum.

sniff me2

sam,

Newt was the only person who was a more virulent theophobe than you among all the people I've ever met.

He was my hero here. A no holds barred trail blazer in the field of anti-religion psychology/psychiatry.

pb,
Not willing to believe in preposterous fairy tales does not make a person a "theophobe". I doubt that the concept of gods or believers in gods frightened Newton Joseph. He was an iconoclast.

Newt was more religious that anyone realized. He believed in the afterlife as he once told me to "go to hell."

Sam wrote: I checked out your facebook page and it appears Newtie has quite a following! Yeah, all from the locaL NUT HOUSE!

You just sound so stupid and immature, Don. Stop embarrassing yourself already.

Ho-Hum

Sock-Ra-Tease was the best atheist poster here at SS... He eloquently argued a non-theistic philosophy with much grace and compassion for his debating partners. He understood the power of mythology and embraced it as an important part of our history and psychology. Although truth be told he championed science and discovery as it was his main goal, but he loved the works of Joseph Campbell and often shared some of his quotes e.g. Religion is misunderstood mythology. He was attentive and serious, considered Theology meaningful, and often discussed the classical arguments and their shortcomings... Sock-Ra-Tease will be missed...

Newton... Well... He was the complete opposite of Sock...

Yep, I miss him, too. Is he also deceased?

Newton was pretty much of a nut. A very very redundant nut.

But RIP anyway, Newty.

He absolutely was redundant but why do you think he was a nut, Pondy?

There was a ranting quality to him that always put me off a bit. Similar to Believer in some ways. Maybe I'm just going on a past feeling about him. It's been so long since any of his posts appeared here. My memory could be colored.

By far most of his postings were prepared articles he'd written which were (imo rightly) devoid of emotion (rant). Granted he didn't suffer the silliness of religion and was often insensitive about butthurt feelings over it but he was a clinician and a man of (albeit soft) science. I remember trying to provoke him (as I do everyone) and was happy when I felt I had cracked a bit of his hard exterior but I did admire his staunch commitment to his version of psychological wellness. On him being a nut, not so much. People ought not be considered truly nutty (insane) until or unless they meet the definition and are a harm to themselves or others. Short of that, we should be considered nicely eccentric, lol. Of course, all religious people meet that definition soooo.....