Dialogue Ireland will participate in Human Rights Platform Meeting Dublin November 16

European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
Schwarzenbergplatz 11
1040 Vienna, Austria
Tel: +43 1 58030 842
Email: Massimo.TOSCHI@fra.europa.eu

Visit us on: http://fra.europa.eu

Invitation to Round table with Director of EU Fundamental Rights Agency, Friday 16^th November at 9.15am.

We would like to invite you to a round table meeting with the Director of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), Morten Kjaerum, next Friday 16^th November.

The Director is visiting Ireland to meet with Government departments and other institutions, ahead of Ireland’s EU Presidency Jan-June 2013.

FRA attaches great importance to its partnerships and engagement with civil society in each member state and at EU level. The meeting will provide an opportunity for civil society organisations to find out more about FRA’s work and current initiatives and to brief Morten on issues of concern for you in the fundamental rights area.

Where:           EU Commission, Molesworth St., Dublin 2

When:             Friday 16^th November at 9.15 am – 10.30am

DÁIL QUESTION addressed to the Minister for Justice and Equality (Mr. Shatter) by Deputy Paschal Donohoe

We were grateful in Dialogue Ireland when Deputy Paschal Donohoe  asked this question at the request of the Director of Dialogue Ireland who is a constituent of his.

Jehovah Witnesses: The ’144,000′ – who are they?

Jehovah Witnesses:

The ’144,000′ – who are they?

28.06.2010

Russia to ban Scientology books?

Seemingly so, at least if a court ruling handed down in Eastern Siberia is allowed to stand. Full story with all the details can be viewed on news.com.au.  Materials of Jehovah’s Witnesses are also for the chopping block.

Note to Russia: Censorship rarely works out well. The way to combat ideologies you regard as dangerous is with refutation and rational argument, not with actions that grant victim status.

Documentary – Jehovah Witnesses

True-believer syndrome: Self help write in name…….

True-believer syndrome

True-believer syndrome
Terminology
Coined by	M. Lamar Keene (1976)
Definition	The condition of continuing to believe a paranormal event/phenomenon after it has been debunked
Signature	Belief continues without grounds or base
See also	Belief Perseverance[1]

True-believer syndrome is a term coined by M. Lamar Keene in his 1976 book The Psychic Mafia. Keene used the term to refer to people who continued to believe in a paranormal event or phenomenon even after it had been proven to have been staged.^[2][3]
Eric Hoffer used the term true believer in his first book, published in 1951, which explored the nature of fanaticism and mass-movements in the political context.
Keene considered it to be a cognitive disorder,^[4][5] and regarded it as being a key factor in the success of many psychic mediums.^[3] The term “true believer syndrome” is not used professionally by psychologists, psychiatrists, or medical professionals and is not recognised as a form of psychopathology or psychological impairment, nor is it listed in any version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ^[6].

Examples

Raoul

In his book The Psychic Mafia, Keene tells of a psychic medium named Raoul. Some people still believed that Raoul was genuine even after he openly admitted that he was a fake. Keene wrote “I knew how easy it was to make people believe a lie, but I didn’t expect the same people, confronted with the lie, would choose it over the truth. . . . No amount of logic can shatter a faith consciously based on a lie.”^[7][8]

Carlos

According to The Skeptic’s Dictionary, an example of this syndrome is evidenced by an event in 1988, when James Randi, at the request of an Australian news program, coached stage performer José Alvarez to pretend he was channelling a two-thousand-year-old spirit named “Carlos”. Even after it was revealed to be a fictional character created by himself and Alvarez, people continued to believe that “Carlos” was real.^[5] Randi commented: “no amount of evidence, no matter how good it is or how much there is of it, is ever going to convince the true believer to the contrary.”^[9]