Dear David,

I think you're right. This discussion appears to have run
its course. Thank you for your kind words. I explained in my
opening post as to why I started this discussion. It has
been an interesting journey and as I stated earlier - it
has on the whole been a positive experience.

yuyutsu,

My karma ran over your dogma.

Dear David F.,

«You were forced to say nothing. You chose to defend your obsession.»

I see my role on this public forum as defending religion and its reputation, especially from misconceptions that associate religion with all sorts of other, unwholesome, practices, thus vilifying the religious and down the line bringing about restrictions on the freedom of religion.

We seem to share our dislike of these unwholesome practices when any arises in these discussions, yet somehow you seem to insist that these practices are "religious", so it is therefore my duty here to refute that view.

«What you don't like in religion you deny is religion.»

That is, what I don't like in what some people arbitrarily and/or ignorantly fancy calling "religion".

But how do my private likes and dislikes come into this when we have never even touched on them? Perhaps I actually like to live in fantasy-land? Perhaps I secretly enjoy burning witches? love to go on crusades? savour leaving a trail of carnage of infidels? relish the subjugation of women? do you really know me?... Should that make any difference in what is and what isn't?

I do not bundle what I like with a fancy name, nor should you bundle all you dislike with that fancy name, nor should things be classified according to popular view, without any method - doing any of these would be so unscientific.

Instead, I use a systematic method with a clear definition to determine what is religion and what is not religion, a method I explained several times before in this forum. I could repeat my definition and its rationale, but I will spare you that because I sense that you just hate when I do so and have no interest and/or patience to go through it.

Dear Ttbn,

Attention seeking in itself is not a crime.

What bothers me here, is that the presentation of this thread encourages antisemitism. I am not saying that Foxy herself is antisemitic, but trying to provide a list of Jewish characteristics as potential "reasons" for Jew-hatred, implies that the problem is on the Jewish side, that if only the Jews could be somewhat different then the need to hate them would not arise. Providing that list could be completely innocent, yet dangerous.

There can be many excuses for hating Jews, but only one true reason - that one just wants to hate them.

ttbn, you name Foxy, SteeleRedux, myself and a couple of unnamed posters as obsessive narcissistic ideologues, referring to us as loons (short for lunatics) yet you regularly attack anyone whose opinion differs from yours. You should feel well satisfied as this Forum gives the likes of you immunity from prosecution for your obvious abuse. I don't 'recommend comment for deletion'even from you, that is a privilege of yours.

Yuyutsu

No, it isn't a crime, but it's a serious character flaw, and a pain in the backside for other people.

I think that anyone who brings up such a question has a serious problem with Jews - as the questioner has indicated she does over the years of OLO's existence.

Some people try to hide their hatreds/feelings by projecting them onto others. They don't have the courage to state what they think, so they try to get other people to say it for them by asking a 'question'.