Barothmuk

It told me to buy a Donald Trump t-shirt?

Why are you speaking as if Islam is separate from the culture? Well that's not true.

Isn't OP the guy who said the refugee crisis was the [deserved] punishment people in the west get for the actions of their governments? German sounds like a dog throwing up.

Breitbart

Are so.

My responses to these points can already be found in my prior posts. I have no desire to repeat myself.

I'm pretty sure "feminists are offended by people holding doors" is just a crazy reddit meme.

Woosh

Would be if they were in our pocket. You yourself have supported corrupt dictatorships on the basis they're "our guy". Personally I think the West could alleviate the conditions of the North Korean people if they just opened diplomatic relations and trade. Catch more flies with honey and all that.

No, I stated that if a god demands you think or act in a specific way less you be punished, and you choose not to think or act in that specific way due to a lack of evidence of needing to this is actual disbelief. It is not a neutral stance. Well that is the traditional definition of a religion. Some have tried to expand this definition so as to be able to include non-Western religions but like I mentioned before this ends up accidentally categorising various belief systems that we wouldn't normally consider religions as religions. This is because religion as a concept of categorising certain belief systems is itself a modern invention that only came into use in the 17th century. Because of this it was only constructed to meet the needs of differentiating certain belief systems in the West rather than as a totalizing concept to be utilized for all belief systems worldwide. So do most philosophies. Natural rights, morals, free-will etc. Once you strip back the hokey spiritual language (that is often a product of translation) the general ideology (at least in the Pali Canon) is closer to the Greeks than later theological writers. If you're interested in Buddhism as a purely historical phenomenon the works of Richard Gombrich are quite good. I haven't read anything about Sikhism so I can't comment.

When it comes to a belief in a god or gods this is almost entirely the case. I have already stated why. I disagree. Buddhism's status as a religion is not definitive and scepticism of this need not be because of attempts to "co-opt" it. Rather it is arguable Buddhism is not a religion because not only does it fail to meet the traditional definitions of a religion, but also the concept of religion itself was not meant to accommodate belief systems such as Buddhism. If you extend the definition of "religion" to ideologies with "spiritual" or "superstitious" elements then you'd have to include a lot of unintended belief systems as "religions". For instance many liberal and humanist philosophies hold certain rights and morals to be innate or inherent; realistically speaking this is no different from superstitious belief.

If you don't not believe in some other religion then you are not agnostic. Depending on the sect some Buddhists do believe in a god or gods. Buddha himself was largely indifferent to the question of the existence of a god or gods and considered it irrelevant to his project. This is partially why Buddhism was so adaptable and was able to spread as well as it did. Broadly speaking however its points such as this that highlight how limited the concept of "religion" is. It effectively communicates a general idea when speaking of the Abrahamic belief systems but when you apply it to the rest of the world it begins to get a lot more messy. Is Buddhism a religion or a philosophy? It doesn't believe in or actively worship a god so its a philosophy. But it believes in superstitious things like karma and reincarnation so its a religion. But Socrates believed in and worshipped a god and he's considered a philosopher. etc. However like I noted before, most religions will require you act in a specific way in accordance with the wishes of their god which you presumably do not. This means you are not in a state of neutrality on the existence of their god (whichever one it may be) but a state of actual disbelief, i.e. you act on the basis that the god does not exist. Frankly I'm not attached to either label I just find the "atheists are too absolutist I'm an agnostic" mindset to be as equally obnoxious as euphoric atheism.

Must be difficult to enjoy a television series as child nowadays.

Yeah, I've played that before. Xenu being the last boss was clever.

- Something like Star Citizen with the same scale and budget except centred around piracy in the Caribbean. - 2D fighter made up of a cast of famous gods and religious icons (Jesus vs. Buddha, Thor vs. Muhammed etc) - A proper sequel to F-Zero GX.

If a religion demands you do an action and you do not do this action due to a lack of evidence of needing to do it this would qualify as "disbelief". I too entertain there's a small possibility of there being a god or gods but seeing there is no evidence for this I act on the assumption there isn't. Call it what you will but I find the "I'm not an atheist I'm agnostic" to be less about philosophical accuracy and more about tip-toeing around people's religious beliefs and not wanting to look like one of those nu-atheist types.

It was somewhat different. The political discussions are fine but are usually just a rehash of the same few topics.

Thread was at least a refreshing change from the usual discussions we have here.

I'm from the distant future of 2016. It's all true.

Keep giving my unlimited resources away and live like a hermit in the mountains.

Actual picture of Darkpriest and his friend

Oi git a load of this toff

As much as it pains me to use the rhetoric, this kind of mindset reflects a distinct level of privilege. Whereas you may see politics as nothing more than a cute little thought experiment to mull over whilst sucking down pheasant and sipping your cabernet sauvignon for the rest of us it directly affects our quality of life.

That's how it always is. That'd be great! Shame it'll be used to **** the most of us over Although true I hardly see this as an argument against. I'd rather live in a society of intelligent unwise people than a society of unintelligent unwise people.

Looks like Charles Manson.