Remarks on the Occasion of the Thirty-Fifth Anniversary of the Publication of “Is God A White Racist?”  by Dr. William R Jones.

Delivered at the Annual Meeting of HUUmanists, June 26, 2008, at the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association, Fort Lauderdale, FL.

Participants:  Rev. Mel Hoover, Dr. William Jones, Dr. Anthony Pinn, Ms. Norma Poinsett,  Rev. Bill Sinkford,  Rev. Archene Turner, Dr. Sharon Welch.

Moderator: Rev. Wendy Jerome;  Host and organizer: Dr. David Schafer.  

To predict a person’s behavior you must understand the cognitive structure - that world view that operates as their theory-in-use - not their espoused theory. To illustrate: a minister is doing a catechism on Heaven, and asks everybody, “How many people believe in Heaven?  (Lots of people put their hands up).  How many people think Heaven is a good place? How many think Heaven’s the best place? (People keep their hands up).  How many of you want to go there?”  Then he said, “How many are willing to go there?” Then he said, “How many of you are willing to die tomorrow to go to Heaven?” Not a single hand goes up. Not a single hand.