Living Church of God's Suppression Of Critical Thinking

From a reader here:

Darryl I read your full original letter, and I think you are exactly correct in your assessment and how you are responding now.

As for "2 to 3 years left", I heard Roderick Meredith himself speak with no less dogmatism and certainty of "maybe 4 to 8 years left" in the early 1970s(!).

As for the suppression of critical thinking that you describe at "Living University", you are absolutely right that any real university teaches weighing of evidence and reading multiple sides of informed discussions of issues. Where is Dr. Germano in all this? I knew Dr. Germano long ago as a sound and intelligent critical thinker, and now he is mixed up with this? Finally, let me tell you, Roderick Meredith is one not-very-admirable person to look up to as a religious leader. Never mind that he seems not to have developed a single original thought or idea in his entire life's history of preaching. If his message was a good one that would be forgivable. I personally heard him, along with several thousand others, on the opening night of the Feast of Tabernacles 1969 in Mount Pocono, say how if he were president he could end the war in Vietnam in one-half hour. He repeated it a couple of times, sort of smiling and relishing the point. Although he did not directly say so, it sounded like he was talking about simply nuking North Vietnam off the map, thus ending the war in one-half hour. Meredith never apologized, clarified, or retracted that statement, which is utterly horrifying--making serious statements of intent about genocide, about mass annihilation. To the contrary Meredith seemed proud of it, as if showing what a man he was that he could give the word to exterminate hundreds of thousands of people just like that. And all this on the opening night of a religious festival. Of course Meredith then was also not thinking an original thought--he was channeling, albeit in extreme form, the climate and the culture of the one doing his thinking for him, HWA (Meredith was at that time #3 in the WCG, superintendent of the US ministry under HWA and GTA).

These are violent, violent, people in their hearts--as the heart thinks, the mouth speaks--even if they are externally law-abiding and restrict their malevolence to ideas and speech and manipulation of human minds.

They preach British-Israelism which is other language for thinking white people have divine entitlement to the world's best natural resources and to take and keep such by military conquest and force--simple imperial ideology with dehumanizing of any native peoples who happen to be in the way.

If Meredith showed signs of self-reflection, growth, remorse--genuine repentance--over these past blatant advocacies and relishing of thoughts of mass murder, that would be one thing. But that is not the case from anything that I have seen reported. You did well to think analytically and run, not walk, out of there to the productive and meaningful life you have possible ahead now. I sincerely hope you can talk with your girlfriend and work through this with her, and that she can recognize again the good soul that you are as you have shown by your growth in this experience. God bless you. (p.s. you might find reading books by Frank Schaeffer of interest and helpful.) gld