What is the Highest Authority You Recognize?

[RoadRunner79]

And for some, a simple question invokes a paranoia and avoidance (mostly because of the source) the likes of which I've only experienced when dealing with those in a cult.

Yeah, the moral couldn't possibly be 'don't be the kind of poster who has earned distrust and suspicion due to their history.'

What cult did you belong to or deal with?

By cult, I mostly mean it in the Christian sense of unorthodox group.   I dealt with some Jehovah Witnesses on a number of occasions (on another forum).   There was also, a number of small groups or even individuals who had some pretty wacko ideas.   Come to think of it, a conversation on authority would have been good there to.  But I did notice a distrust and a constant questioning of motives, from anything that was outside of the group or individual.

---

Yeah, the moral couldn't possibly be 'don't be the kind of poster who has earned distrust and suspicion due to their history.'

What cult did you belong to or deal with?

Neo just backhandedly called atheist a cult, and I am sure he won't admit it. 

No Neo, sorry, while the word "atheist" certainly doesn't have any magic power to make us only do good, it still is not a gang or a cult, the word merely means "off". And we don't always agree on politics or economics. I get tired of repeating that there are atheist who voted for Trump, other atheists like Che who lead to Castro's Cuba, I hate both of those attitudes. 

We are not a cult, we have no secret handshake, we do not eat babies nor drink goats blood. We will not rape your women. If an individual atheist does bad, that only makes that individual bad. But we are still capable of obeying the law and being non violent and GASP even protecting  the rights of the religious.

He wants us to be his evil boogieman and is upset when we wont let him paint us like that collectively.

Incorrect again (I would have thought you should get one correct by dumb luck by now)     Perhaps I need to be more careful about what I didn't say!

I'll make you a deal... I'll do my best to not do what you keep thinking I'm doing.   You stop trying to argue for me, or making assumptions based on what you think I beleive.