Godless Tribe De-converts Christian (interview) 2 of 4

Daniel Everett on radio.author of Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes

"To have sex with someone Else's spouse is frowned upon and can be risky, but it happens. If the couple is married to each other, they will just walk off in the forest a ways to have sex. The same is true if neither member of the couple is married. If one or both members of the couple are married to someone else, however, they will usually leave the village for a few days. If they return and remain together, the old partners are thereby divorced and the new couple is married. First marriages are recognized simply by cohabitation. If they do not choose to remain together, then the cuckolded spouses may or may not choose to allow them back. Whatever happens, there is no further mention of it or complaint about it, at least not openly, once the couple has returned. However, while the lovers are absent from the village, their spouses search for them, wail, and complain loudly to everyone. Sometimes the spouses left behind asked me to take them in my motorboat to search for the missing partners, but I never did."

Daniel gives a great 90 Minute talk on FORA TV :

http://fora.tv/2009/03/20/Daniel_Everett_Endangered_Languages_and_Lost_Knowledge


" (Hey Dan, I want to talk to you.) He continued, "The Pirahãs know that you left your family and your own land to come here and live with us. We know that you do this to tell us about Jesus. You want us to live like Americans. But the Pirahãs do not want to live like Americans. We like to drink. We like more than one woman. We don't want Jesus. But we like you. You can stay with us. But we don't want to hear any more about Jesus. OK?"...Had I taken the time to read about the Pirahãs before visiting them the first time, I would have learned that missionaries had been trying to convert them for over two hundred years. From the first record of contact with the Pirahãs and the Muras, a closely related people, in the eighteenth century, they had developed a reputation for 'recalcitrance' — no Pirahãs are known to have 'converted' at any period in their history."

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• Pinker
• linguist
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[faithisfiction]

Thoroughly interesting.

Thanks for posting.

[10sodot]

:)

be sure to watch the foraTV talk.

cheers

[WingDiamond]

God Bless the Pirahãs!

[Herndonboy14]

the interviewer has a wierd laugh

[Jefferdaughter]

Sad that they have adopted foreign clothes. Why must we think that our ways are the 'best' ways of life? These people create no pollution, feed and care for themselves, and are happy. They are an inspiration.

[bassdinucci]

i love this finally smart people! i love atheism!!!

[warnization]

The mentions of peacefulness and lack of conflict are apparently common with stable, 'tribal' populations. An anthropology professor once told me populations like this are the most peaceful type of society in the world.

[DurexDurpaneu2]

@Wingdiamond who's god?

[marcmischief]

This tribe sounds awsome