(December 10, 2018 at 8:16 am)T0 Th3 M4X Wrote:(December 10, 2018 at 3:15 am)pocaracas Wrote: Maybe it would be better if you stopped lumping all atheists in with the groups that have decided to call themselves a religion.
People are people, regardless of their beliefs, they will act as people. That is why religiosity is never a good measure of empathy or morality.
If you take a belief and shape it into a religion, then that's what it is. If the east coast were to be annexed into Canada, guess what? I would be a Canadian even if I didn't want to be. If something changes its form or designation, it becomes something else. When you start claiming religious rights and protections, people are going to see you as a religion. I would have to assume that's why National Geographic did it. We've seen the formation of a religious group called the "nones." We had to define it as a whole to offer them the requested protections. Not only that. but said groups are claiming things like tax exemptions so they can organize and discuss or practice religious dogma. Likewise, there are Christians/Muslims that aren't practicing. They don't go to church/mosque and they don't belong to any religious organization, attend services, or whatever. They would still be considered part of a "religion" even though how they practice is indirect and not the same as those practicing in a fuller sense. It doesn't matter what I say. I'm not the one making them a religion. It was the choice of those who decided they needed to try and organize and make it something else.
I guess now you need to define "religion".
A group, society or clan does not necessarily align with a religion.
Let's see what the Oxford English Dictionary says
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religion
noun
[mass noun]
1. The belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.
‘ideas about the relationship between science and religion’
1.1. [count noun] A particular system of faith and worship.
‘the world's great religions’
1.2. [count noun] A pursuit or interest followed with great devotion.
‘consumerism is the new religion’
Origin
Middle English (originally in the sense ‘life under monastic vows’): from Old French, or from Latin religio(n-) ‘obligation, bond, reverence’, perhaps based on Latin religare ‘to bind’.
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Why are religions tax exempt and porotected?
Would you think that these groups are claiming equal tax exemptions and protections in the hopes of starting this discussion in society leading to having the large religions getting taxed like any other institution, instead of having themselves not be taxed?