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<DIV>In a message dated 8/7/2006 4:26:46 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
bret@bonfireproductions.com writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>Personally, I don't think you should, even though the modern
context <BR>and use of the word "religion" could be interpreted in that
manner.<BR><BR>Seeing that the Latin prefix of religion is rooted somehow
in <BR>"supernatural" and "superstition".<BR><BR>It's like lumping
Atheism into religion. People that want to keep <BR>clear of a certain
mess through choice are simply redefined by mess- <BR>participants as another
form of mess. Then the meme-pool needs cleaning.<BR><BR>Ultimately, I'm sure
that there are people that view it as such, it <BR>is a personal
choice.<BR><BR>Philosophy? Yes. Religion? No.</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV> Agreed. Humanists, at one time or another, declared
their beliefs/belief system to be a "religion." Number one, it isn't. Number
two, all this assertion has done for them is serve as a lightning rod for
criticism and rhetoric from fundamentalists in the US.</DIV>
<DIV> Something is a "religion" only if, among other
things, it deals explicitly with the supernatural, asserts the existence and
reality of such (Whether this is actually true or not is beside the point),
endeavors to make at least *some* specific statements about such (There is a
"God," or this many gods, this is what It/She/He/They are like, what they like,
what they don't, what they've done in the past, present, and future, how
"Heaven" or whatever is set up, and what kinds of subordinate beings they have
under them and what these are like), and claims that its (the alleged
religion's) beliefs, tenets, doctrines, etc. emanate from and are determined by
such.</DIV>
<DIV> Transhumanism, like atheism, Humanism, and also
communism, democracy, capitalism, etc. does none of these things.</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
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size=2><BR><BR><BR>Cheers,<BR>Bret<BR></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV>Darth Mencken, Dark Lord of Iconoclasm</DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>