The Alpha Course

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The Alpha Course
OP - January 07, 2010, 05:38 PM

http://uk.alpha.org/
Anybody heard about it?
I saw a billboard sign about it a few months ago, and their headquarters is a walking distance from where I live, I always pass by it. I am not intending to go there or anything, but anybody has an idea of what they promote exactly? I know it's Christian-oriented but, is it plain brainwashing and dogma or something more relevant to life and less religious?

"In every time and culture there are pressures to conform to the prevailing prejudices. But there are also, in every place and epoch, those who value the truth; who record the evidence faithfully. Future generations are in their debt." -Carl Sagan
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Re: The Alpha Course
Reply #1 - January 07, 2010, 05:50 PM

I thought it was some different kind of alpha training, would have been more interesting if it had been.

Inhale the good shit, exhale the bullshit.
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Re: The Alpha Course
Reply #2 - January 07, 2010, 05:54 PM

On a Christian site, the poll is "Does God Exist".. 182,383 votes to date ... 95% say No.

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Re: The Alpha Course
Reply #3 - January 07, 2010, 05:56 PM

Excellent.

Inhale the good shit, exhale the bullshit.
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Re: The Alpha Course
Reply #4 - January 07, 2010, 07:56 PM

There was a series on ITV on this a couple of years ago.

It was interesting - not for what the Alpha Course taught, basically, bread and butter Christ is your saviour-ism - but for how it is a form of Christian evangelism and prosletysing using quite sophisticated techniques and forms to appeal to certain demographics in urban areas. Young, middle class, well educated, professionals, this group was particularly highly represented in the 'seminars'

And it was sophisticated and clever in appealing to people in this way. It used the formalities and structures of management seminars, with a touch of 'New Age' rhetoric, focussing on the kinds of things that say a Buddhist might start off talking to you about - about the soul, about feelings of emptiness in the soul, 'are you happy?', 'is modern life spiritually empty?', that kind of thing.

Then it instituted a step-by-step plan, each week touching on this, then on that, then touching on a kind of vibe of 'self-help' - none of the old school style fire and brimstone in these seminars. The self-help, new-agey, management seminar type thing leads of course, to how Christ is an individual saviour. But until then, it all takes place in a university style lecture room, with the leader of the course a laid back guy in casual clothes using an overhead projector and bullet-points and short films and so on. It had the vibe of a management-consultancy course, or one of those courses that you get sent on by work sometimes, a couple of overnights in a hotel off the M4, with lots of other middle management or trainees there, doing problem solving exercises on team building and so on.

"we can smell traitors and country haters"

Quote from: arX on May 01, 2011, 03:33 AM
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Love is Blind. Stevie Wonder is blind. Therefore, Stevie Wonder is God.
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Re: The Alpha Course
Reply #5 - January 07, 2010, 08:00 PM

And that's what I mean. Evangelists really know their demographics. They know in big cities there are countless numbers of middle class men and women in their twenties and thirties who are working in the City, or working in offices all over, who are part of the rat race, who are part of the daily grind, the trains and buses and repetitious commuting, who are feeling a sense of ennui, loneliness, wondering about what it is all about. And the Alpha Course is tailored to appeal to them, to appeal to the atmosphere of self-help, management seminar kind of thing that they are familiar with.

"we can smell traitors and country haters"

Quote from: arX on May 01, 2011, 03:33 AM
God is Love.
Love is Blind. Stevie Wonder is blind. Therefore, Stevie Wonder is God.
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Re: The Alpha Course
Reply #6 - January 07, 2010, 09:01 PM

Quote from: allat on January 07, 2010, 05:54 PM
On a Christian site, the poll is "Does God Exist".. 182,383 votes to date ... 95% say No.

Talk about irony

Quote from: billy on January 07, 2010, 07:56 PM
There was a series on ITV on this a couple of years ago.

It was interesting - not for what the Alpha Course taught, basically, bread and butter Christ is your saviour-ism - but for how it is a form of Christian evangelism and prosletysing using quite sophisticated techniques and forms to appeal to certain demographics in urban areas. Young, middle class, well educated, professionals, this group was particularly highly represented in the 'seminars'

And it was sophisticated and clever in appealing to people in this way. It used the formalities and structures of management seminars, with a touch of 'New Age' rhetoric, focussing on the kinds of things that say a Buddhist might start off talking to you about - about the soul, about feelings of emptiness in the soul, 'are you happy?', 'is modern life spiritually empty?', that kind of thing.

Then it instituted a step-by-step plan, each week touching on this, then on that, then touching on a kind of vibe of 'self-help' - none of the old school style fire and brimstone in these seminars. The self-help, new-agey, management seminar type thing leads of course, to how Christ is an individual saviour. But until then, it all takes place in a university style lecture room, with the leader of the course a laid back guy in casual clothes using an overhead projector and bullet-points and short films and so on. It had the vibe of a management-consultancy course, or one of those courses that you get sent on by work sometimes, a couple of overnights in a hotel off the M4, with lots of other middle management or trainees there, doing problem solving exercises on team building and so on.

Interesting. So it is basically Evangelicalism in an appealing package for modern life. Or did I get that wrong?
Can a Muslim, say, or an Atheist get in (Without concealing his beliefs)?

Do you have youtube or torrent links for this series BTW?

"In every time and culture there are pressures to conform to the prevailing prejudices. But there are also, in every place and epoch, those who value the truth; who record the evidence faithfully. Future generations are in their debt." -Carl Sagan
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Re: The Alpha Course
Reply #7 - January 07, 2010, 09:14 PM

Oh yeah, it is basically just Christian prosletysm in the shape of this series of programmes and seminars / lectures. They want you to become a Christian. Youtube has loads of videos - just type The Alpha Course and you're spoilt for choice. Like I said, its sophisticated evangelism in as much as they have created this course for the modern, educated, professional urban milieu, but its Christian evangelism none the less.

"we can smell traitors and country haters"

Quote from: arX on May 01, 2011, 03:33 AM
God is Love.
Love is Blind. Stevie Wonder is blind. Therefore, Stevie Wonder is God.
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Re: The Alpha Course
Reply #8 - January 07, 2010, 09:40 PM

Quote from: billy on January 07, 2010, 09:14 PM
Oh yeah, it is basically just Christian prosletysm in the shape of this series of programmes and seminars / lectures. They want you to become a Christian. Youtube has loads of videos - just type The Alpha Course and you're spoilt for choice. Like I said, its sophisticated evangelism in as much as they have created this course for the modern, educated, professional urban milieu, but its Christian evangelism none the less.

A bit of search got me that the series is called Alpha: Will it Change their Lives?, but unfortunately there seems to be no videos of it. Anyways thanks a lot.

"In every time and culture there are pressures to conform to the prevailing prejudices. But there are also, in every place and epoch, those who value the truth; who record the evidence faithfully. Future generations are in their debt." -Carl Sagan
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Re: The Alpha Course
Reply #9 - January 08, 2010, 12:36 AM

So it's not about how to stop being a beta?

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