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Comment: Re:Florida (Score 0) 1078

by tolkienfan (#43609655) Attached to: Florida Teen Expelled and Arrested For Science Experiment

I've personally encountered a lot of bigotry in the south. Am I not allowed to say so, or to notice?

When I meet an individual from the south, I don't assume they are racist or bigoted.

Being prejudiced would be assuming they are. Noting that there is a lot of racism in the south is not. Indeed, he also noted a lot of Christianity in the south - I supposed that's prejudiced too?

+ - Google Ordered Back to UK Parliament to "Explain Itself" Following Investigation->

Submitted by DavidGilbert99
DavidGilbert99 writes "Last November Matt Brittin, Google's European chief gave a pretty convincing account of himself as he tried to explain why Google wasn't paying more tax in the UK. All the sales staff were based in Ireland apparently and the UK-based staff were there just to promote the platform for advertisers. Great. Nothing to see here. Move on please.

Well, actually there is a little more to the story, as an investigation by Reuters has discovered. There are many sales staff in the UK with titles and responsibilities curiously close to what most people would call sales staff and as a result Mr. Brittin will once again have to face Margaret Hodge and the PAC to explain just what is happening."

Link to Original Source

Comment: Re:This is here, because? (Score 1) 931

From that excerpt from Wikipedia it's clear that atheism doesn't fit that definition of relgion.

And I have googled atheism. I haven't seen a "plethora of similar dogma". I have seen discussions of other religion's dogma. I asked you for some "atheist dogma" and the response was hardly a plethora. Again, what dogma?

Lots of things probably don't exist, but that doesn't make such conjecture dogma.

Exactly how was I preaching? I merely gave my view.

Comment: Re:This is here, because? (Score 1) 931

So you're suggesting that atheists get together in groups, keep discussing dogma, whch consists of repeating the phrase "god doesn't exist.", and on the basis of these activities and the existence of said dogma we have ourselves a religion.

You have truly opened my eyes.

Personally, having read much real dogma, I've found all of it absurd, preposterous, illogical, unfounded, self contradictory, immoral and backward. I think such magical thinking does a significant disservice to humanity.
Having seen no evidence or reasonable argument for the existence of any god I assume there isn't one. Hence I call myself an atheist.
On the other hand, I can't rule it out. I suppose some might call me an agnostic, but that misses the point. I find the existence of god to be highly unlikely - such a being should leave plenty of evidence and I've seen no credible evidence at all.
If I were to be given some credible evidence I'd change my mind to align with the available facts. I don't think that's true of religious people.
As for whether I have religion, I think if someone were to ask me if I were religious and I answered "yes" I'd be rather significantly misleading them.

Comment: Re:This is here, because? (Score 1) 931

That's not logic at all. It merely comes down to the definition of religion.
Your saying that if I answer "no" to the question "do you believe in god?" then I'm religious.
If that's true then answering "no" to the following questions must also make you religious:
Do you believe in Thor?
Do you believe in invisible pink unicorns?
Do you believe a 3 tonne fruit cake will, at some point in the future, appear above your head, fall from the sky and crush you to death?
Do you believe the Higg's boson exists?
Do you believe in Santa Claus?

Deciding that something is pretty unlikely due to lack of evidence doesn't make you religious, but is does, if that something is god, make you an atheist.

Comment: Re:This is here, because? (Score 1) 931

I know what you wrote: it's right in fron of me. But you missed my point. Perhaps this clarifies:
Atheism is a lack of belief.
If I you ask whether God or FSM actually exists for certain, an honest person must answer "I don't know", because it's impossible to know. This is really agnostic, so it's truly a pointless word.
If you ask "do you believe in a supreme being who created everyone anf everything, and answers people's prayers?" Saying no doesn't make you religious.
Just as saying no to the question "do you believe the FSM created everything?" doesn't make you religious.

Comment: Re:This is here, because? (Score 1) 931

Lack of belief is not a religion, no matter how much you want it to be.

Everyone lacks belief in some religions, even most. You wouldn't claim that they were religious in their lack of belief in Thor or Quetzacoatl, would you?

Perhaps you would.

Do you have a deep religion in your lack of belief in the invisible pink unicorn?

I would rather say that a desire to drive fast sports cars is what sets man apart from the animals.

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