I am removing the content of this post and apologizing for posting it.

[MADem]

122. Well, see, I thought the point of your reply was all those other points--not the

esoteric and tangential comment about the descriptor "religion." The main purpose of even mentioning it was to contrast that very argument (Is it, or isn't it?) with the name of the group, here--not to challenge you with regard to your attitude about what it is, or is not.

We can get to the "hand shaking and remaining friends" bit on that score right now--I know an entrenched view when I see one, and you're entirely entitled to it. I'm not going to tell you that your view is "bad" or "wrong" you see; I just don't see it the way that you do.

Again, if you do not have a religion, you surely must concur that the name of this group is just wrong and is not appropriate for your beliefs--or lack of same. If you don't play football, you don't join a football club. If you aren't interested in teaching, you don't join Future Teachers of America. Even if you argue that your entire thesis of your non-religion is to argue with people who are religious, the name of the group still doesn't "fit." It comes across like children who don't play musical instruments going to fuck with the Band Club.

If the group were called Angostics, Atheists and Theists, the problem would right itself. I don't think this is a particularly difficult concept.

Also, I'm not inserting my view into your mindframe. I'm maintaining my own perspective, is all. In Germany, as I pointed out elsewhere, Scientology is not a religion--it's a cult. And that's their mindframe. The Scientologists can get as pissed off as they'd like--the German Government isn't going to adjust their mindframe out of "respect" for them, because they just don't see it that way. I think that any group that makes it their express business to systematically argue against the "beliefs" of another group is, in essence, using a "system" of their own whose sole purpose and function is to oppose the other group.

I live in Liberal Land--we don't do those Mascots anymore. I am waiting for Atlanta and Cleveland to change the name of their baseball teams; I don't see it happening anytime soon, though.

I don't generally go around telling people about their beliefs, or their eschewing of beliefs, either--I was raised to avoid those topics as a matter of courtesy. However, this IS the "religion" forum, where people come specifically to discuss such things.