Strawman, strawman, happy happy strawman.
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I think the word you are looking for is āanalogy.ā
But, please, tell us how horrible and criminal Scientology is at great length.
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A bad analogy is like a banana.
Scott Adams
On the whole Atheism not being a religion thing:
There have already been numerous cases in the US brought by atheists, that get thrown out on the basis of atheists having no standing because they arenāt a religion.
This is one of the reasons I support the Satanic Temple so much. They are atheists who are willing to dress up and pretend theyāre religious in order to force equal treatment under the law.
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No. Do your own research. You should have done your research before deciding to defend the Church of Scientology.
Defend āScientologyā all you want, and youāll get no argument from me but research the Church of Scientology before deciding they are worthy of your efforts.
Iām not defending them, no matter how many times you stand up that strawman. Iām defending the rights of Russian citizens to have freedom of religion, which is something the Russian Orthodox Church is very much not inclined to allow if it can get away with it.
Oh, and I have done my research, Iāve been on the Internet since the 80s, read all of the popular books from the 90s forward about Scientology, including exposes, biographies of LRH, etc.
You seem happy to describe people that disagree with your opinions as being ādefendersā of Scientology though. What next? You call me a Scientologist?
(I can categorically state that Iām not now nor have I ever been a Scientologist, Chairman.)
Ironically from your profile statement:
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When you decide to actually read and understand the things I wrote, then we might have a discussion. That doesnāt seem likely.
And when you reply to what I actually wrote, we might meet in the middle.
Iām not defending Scientology. Iām defending Russian religious freedoms from an Orthodox church that prefers that no one has other options. I really donāt care about Scientology other than it being a kooky cult that often seems to take advantage of its members. The leaders that commit crimes should be brought to trial, as we do (supposedly) with any other criminal acts. That doesnāt mean I want the Orthodox Church stomping out religious freedoms in Russia and this is just yet another act by them to do so. Theyāve done it to other groups in the past and they will continue to do it moving forward.
You seem to think āBecause Scientology!ā makes it ok though. Whatever.
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You are unable to read and understand what I wrote which makes it impossible to have any discussion.
- I never accused you of ādefending Scientologyā. Neither was I attacking āScientologyā.
- I never wrote anything where ābecause Scientologyā was the reasoning.
- I actually didnāt write what you have consistently accused me of writing.
Attempting to have a discussion with you immediately devolves into your generalities, bad analogies, misquotes, strawmen and slippery slope illogics.
You are so busy attacking people, you donāt bother actually reading what they actually said. It is tiresome. Iāll leave you to āargueā with your little strawman.
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I suppose youāre right in that you didnāt literally say I was defending Scientology except for how a rational person would read it unless this is one of those games where āScientologyā is different than the āChurch of Scientologyā to you?
Iām not attacking anyone. Iām saying that we shouldnāt applaud yet another example of the Russian Orthodox Church working to suspend the practices of a competing faith in Russia.
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So nobody is arguing with anyone? Hooray!
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I guess weāre done then!
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If I am reading all this right, the judgement comes from Scientology being trademarked with the idea being that if it actually were a real religion, it couldnāt be trademarked, a nifty argument which I donāt think could be used against other religions as I, at least, canāt think of another that is also trademarked. Ok, messy sentenceā¦
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Russia can ban what they want, but they canāt keep me from pointing my finger at the moon.
(and if I try to patent that as secret knowledge, then I deserve the ban)
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Depends on what the practices are that they are suspending.
Prohibiting people from meeting to discuss Hubbardās ideas, āauditingā one another, using E-meters, getting together to discuss Xenu in hushed tones? Yeah, I agree that would be a very very Bad Thing for any governmental body to do.
Prohibiting them from running a long con which transfers large portions of select Russian citizensā income to David Miscavige? I can probably sleep okay knowing thatās being done.
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They are borderline illegal in Germany also, lost tax exempt status and viewed with great suspicion by the government there.
Edit
And the Russian Federation is in clear violation of its obligations vis a vis the ECHRā¦
http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-80038#{āitemidā:[ā001-80038ā]}
Arenāt all organized religions businesses? I mean, Iām opened to being shown one that isnāt, but Iāve never come across it. On the other hand, I tune out proselytizers, so perhaps Iām not a good source.
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Indeed. Apparently, Karlheinz Deschnerās Criminal History of Christianity is not yet available in an English translation. It provides plenty of evidence.
Trademarks and copyrights are extremely different things. A trademark is a declaration that you intend to use the term for commercial purposes. If the name of your religion is a commercial term, then I think there is an argument to be made about whether it is really a religion. The basic argument scans for me.
I believe most atheists understand that atheists are not entitled to āreligious protectionsā whatever exactly that means. Atheists, like everyone else, are entitled to freedom of religion, which includs freedom to not be a part of any religion. A court cannot order Atheism to liquidate within six months, because there is no āAtheismā to liquidate.
Similarly, to the extent the Scientology is a religion, people in Russia are free to continue to practice of it. However, the corporation Scientology, is being dissolved. Catholicism is not a corporation in Russia or in the US (i donāt believe so, anyway, I know individual churches sometimes incorporate and sometimes donāt), and that doesnāt stop Catholics from practicing.
I have no illusions that Russian courts are impartial, if I had to wager Iād be more likely to bet on ācorrupt as hell.ā But while religions exist whether or not the government likes it, corporations exist under statutes created by the government. Dissolving a corporation is within the governmentās powers.
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