It seems you missed the point here. Your justification for Atheism being a cult was that the Wisconsin court said Atheism was a religion, and all religions are cults.



Well, if you give so much credence to the rule of the courts, then why not adhere to the them when they say intelligent design is not science?

Are you saying that the Wisconsin court decision is more valid? If so, why? What about that proceeding made it more valid. Or, if you like, what about the dover decision made it invalid?

FUN FACTS (geez, which sound more like a cult here?):

141 Rules. Things Jehovah's Witnesses Can't Do.

Belong to another organization or club for the purpose of socializing with nonbelievers.
Have best friends and activity buddies who are not Jehovah's Witnesses. See Friendship with Non-believers
Associate with people outside their organization when it is not necessary. See Friendship With A Jehovah's Witness
Attend social functions sponsored by their employer unless attendance is required
Associate with coworkers after business hours in a social settings
Disagree with their organization's rules and code of conduct. See Can Jehovah's Witnesses Disagree?
Disagree with their organization's doctrines. See Can Jehovah's Witnesses Disagree?
Contribute to the Presidential Campaign Fund on their tax return
Join the armed forces and defend their country
Say the Pledge of Allegiance
Salute the flag
Vote
Run for leadership in their organization. (JW's are 'appointed' and invited to be leaders.)
Run for leadership in any organization
Take a stand for any political issue inside their organization
Take a stand on any political or 'worldly' issue outside of their organization
Campaign for a political candidate
Hold political office
Discuss politics
Be a union steward or shop steward
Actively be involved in a union strike
Use a gun for protection against humans
Become a police officer if a gun is required
Wear military uniforms or clothing associated with war
Take yoga classes and practice the discipline of yoga. See Is Yoga For Christians?
Smoke tobacco and cigars
Work full time selling tobacco and cigars
Attend Alcoholics Anonymous
Donate blood
Have blood transfusions
Read books, magazines, publications, and literature from other religions.
Buy anything from a church store
Buy something at a church garage sale
Donate items to a church run store
Shop at the Salvation Army
Work for the Salvation Army
Work for another church
Play competitive sports on a school team
Play competitive sports professionally
Run for class president
Become a cheerleader
Go to the school prom or school dance.
Attend class reunions
Be hypnotized
Accept Jesus as their mediator, 1 Timothy 2:5. See Mediator
Join the Boy Scouts
Join the Girl Guides
Join the YMCA
Serve on jury duty
Study psychology, philosophy, sociology, and viewpoints that might shake their faith
Attend other Christian churches
Attend nondenominational churches
Attend non Christian churches
Get married in another church
Dating non believers is discouraged
Casual dating is discouraged
Dating someone without the intent of getting married
Having sex before marriage
Breaking an engagement, separation, and 'unscriptural' divorce may result in disciplinary action
Marriage to non believers is not recommended
Be gay or lesbian. Homosexuality is not acceptable.
Throw rice at a wedding
Get divorced unless the reason is adultery
Can't remarry unless their ex commits fornication first
Toast drinks
Buy a raffle ticket
Play bingo
Gamble
Sing any holiday songs
Sing the National Anthem.
Celebrate Christmas - Why?
Celebrate New Years Eve - Why?
Celebrate Easter - Why?
Celebrate Mother's Day - Why?
Celebrate Father's Day
Celebrate birthdays - Why?
Celebrate Thanksgiving
Celebrate Flag Day
Celebrate Veteran's Day
Celebrate Independence Day. Why?
Celebrate Saint Patrick's Day
Celebrate Valentine's Day
Celebrate Halloween - Why?
Celebrate Hanukkah
Accept holiday gifts - Why?
Celebrate any holiday except the death of Jesus - Why?
Partake in the bread and wine that represents Christ unless they are part of the 144,000
Make holiday artwork for school
Engage in holiday parties at school
Take on a leadership role in school
Porneia
Do suggestive and immodest dancing in a public place
Attend a class, workshop, or seminar, sponsored by another church
Attend social events or fund raisers sponsored by another church
Use of bad language (curse words) is discouraged
Wear blue jeans, shorts, and overly casual clothing at the Kingdom Hall. See Dress Code
Wear pants at a Kingdom Hall if you're a woman
Wear revealing clothes or skirts that are too short (looked down upon)
Wear long hair or facial hair if you're a man (depends on the local customs of the country you live in)
Body piercings are discouraged
Tattoos are discouraged
State or imply that the Watchtower is not run by Jehovah God.
Have discussions and express Bible based viewpoints that contradict the organization's beliefs
Say anything negative about their organization. JW's must 'speak in agreement' and be 'like-minded'.
Consider other religious beliefs as valid and truthful.
Acknowledge any prayer spoken by a non believer as valid
Take another Jehovah's Witness to court (with exceptions)
Wear or own a cross
Own any religious picture
Own any religious statue
Engage in idolatry
Believe in miracles (except those found in the Bible) See Miracles
Believe in ghosts
Witchcraft
Black magic
White magic
Consult with a psychic or become one
Study tarot cards, get a reading or give a reading
Study numerology or get a reading
Dabble in ESP (extrasensory perception), dowsing, or divination
Use a tool such as a pendulum to access information from the spiritual realm
Attempt to communicate with departed spirits. See What Do Jehovah's Witnesses Believe About Death?
Attend a seance
Believe in good luck or say things such as 'Good luck to you'. Why?
Believe or say anything superstitious
Prophesy
Speaking in tongues
Laying on of hands
Energy healing such as Reiki
Read their horoscope
Study astrology or zodiac signs
Combat training, boxing, or martial arts
Go to heaven unless they are part of the 144,000 ( 144000 )
Worship Jesus as God
Idolize any celebrity or love and admire them to excess
Women can't be elders
Women can't be ministerial servants (assistants to the elders)
Divulge secret information to enemies and those not entitled to know. See Theocratic Warfare
Greet or talk with disfellowshipped persons (with some exceptions)
Associate with disfellowshipped persons except for immediate family living in the same house
Keep secrets from the organization. Jehovah's Witnesses report friends and family members breaking the rules

Three More Things Jehovah's Witnesses Can't Do.

Women cannot assume the role of a male and instruct the congregation.
A woman should not pray in the presence of a baptized male JW. WT July 15, 2002, Questions from Readers
Jehovah's Witnesses can't be part of this world. They must be separate from the world
They can't believe anything former Jehovah's Witnesses say, - even if it's factual. See Apostate Lies
Unless they're an Elder, Jehovah's Witnesses can't read this book, - 'Shepherd the Flock of God' - 1 Peter 5:2

Alter2Ego,

DO YOU DISAGREE WITH ANYTHING TAUGHT BY THE JEHOVAH WITNESSES?

ALTER2EGO:
Why would you assume that I meant you when there are many other atheists on this forum? My opening post isn't directed to any specific atheist. It's directed to everyone--including theists.

BTW: I've had debates with numerous atheists at other websites. Their routine is to do the finger-pointing about theists being the cause of all of humanity's miseries. Are there exceptions to this rule? Certainly. Since you say you are not guilty of the aforementioned accusations against theists, in that case, you are one of the exceptions.

ALTER2EGO:
I don't know where you're getting your numbers from, but I've found numerous sources--including books, and they put Stalin's killings between 20 million and 40 million. The methods of death are as follows according to two of my sources: executions, 1.5 million; gulags, 5 million; deportations, 1.7 million out of 7.5 million deported; and POWs and German civilians, 1 million – a total of about 9 million victims of repression.

1. "Victims of the Soviet Penal System in the Pre-war Years" (Source: Getty, Rittersporn, Zemskov)

2. "The Scale and Nature of German and Soviet Repression and Mass Killings, 1930–45" (Source: Stephen Wheatcroft (1996))

3. "More light on the scale of repression and excess mortality in the Soviet Union in the 1930s" (Source: Stephen Wheatcroft (1990))



Author Robert Conquest in his appendix on casualty figures calculates that the number of executions from 1936 to 1938 was probably about 1,000,000. He then added that from 1936 to 1950 about 12,000,000 died in the camps and that 3,500,000 died in the 1930-1936 collectivization. Overal, he concludes:

"Thus we get a figure of 20 million dead, which is almost certainly too low and might require an increase of 50 percent or so, as the debit balance of the Stalin regime for twenty-three years." (Source: The Great Terror: Stalin’s Purge of the Thirties (Macmillan 1968))



BTW: Adolph Hitler and his henchmen merely claimed they were Christians. Their behavior proved them to be counterfeit Christians, of which Jesus Christ warned:

"{15} Be on the watch for the false prophets that come to you in sheep's covering, but inside they are ravenous wolves. {16} BY THEIR FRUITS [meaning their actions] YOU WILL RECOGNIZE THEM. Never do people gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles, do they? {17} Likewise every good tree produces fine fruit, but every rotten tree produces worthless fruit. {20} Really, then, by their fruits you will recognize those men." (Matthew 7: 15-17, 20)

ALTER2EGO:
You expect me to show atheists admitting they belong to the religion of atheism? They will vigorously deny it. That's why I quoted official court cases where atheism is defined as a religion.

If many atheists are not secular humanists, as you claim, that does not disqualify them from being part of the religion of atheism. All that's required is that they share a common belief system. In this case, their belief is that there there is no god. This point was mentioned following the 2005 Wisconsin court ruling.

"Brian Fahling, senior trial attorney for the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy, called the court’s ruling "a sort of Alice in Wonderland jurisprudence."

"Up is down, and atheism, the antithesis of religion, is religion," said Fahling.

The Supreme Court has said a religion need not be based on a belief in the existence of a supreme being."
http://www.wnd.com/2005/08/31895/

There is a difference between the legal definition of something and the common definition. Gambling is one example. Religion could be another if we are to take those court cases as meaningful.

This is much how theory means one thing when used commonly, and another when used by scientists. So I don't expect you to understand this point.

Intelligent Design: Not Science
HARRISBURG, PA., Dec. 20 - A federal judge ruled today that a Pennsylvania school board's policy of teaching intelligent design in high school biology class is unconstitutional because intelligent design is clearly a religious idea that advances "a particular version of Christianity."

ALTER2EGO -to- SOMMERSET:

I don't need to agree nor disagree with the courts that intelligent design is not a science. Why so? Because intelligent design is ABOVE science. It breaks all the rules of science and therefore is beyond the realm of human understanding. Since scientists cannot explain intelligent design and don't know how God did it, how do you expect human judges to rule it as being science?

How does any human understand how Jehovah created life from none life, or how he created the planets and the universe? They can't. Even if they were able to question Jehovah and he explained to them how he did it, the puny human mind would not be able to grasp it. Truth be told, nobody can apply scientific terms to what amounts to miracles of the highest order. Intelligent design is the epitome of miracle. So how else did you expect the judge to rule?

"Have you not come to know or have you not heard? Jehovah, the Creator of the extremities of the earth, is a God to time indefinite. He does not tire out or grow weary. There is no searching out of his understanding." (Isaiah 40:28)


Meanwhile, because atheists follow an identifiable belief system or pattern of behavior--which is what religious people do--atheism is rightfully defined as a religion by two separate U.S. court rulings.

ALTER2EGO -to- SOMMERSET:

Courts in other states giving different rulings on the same subject matter does not change the fact that at least two U.S. courts have defined atheism as a religion. I can do more research and produce similar court rulings from more U.S. states along that line. But why bother? I'm satisfied that at least two official rulings have already confirmed what the title of my thread is saying.

1) stop coloring your text. It's ****ing annoying. Making your words a different color than other posters doesn't validate them.

2) you're a troll

ASHES OF EIGHT TO ALTER2EGO

SHUT THE **** UP YOU CRAZYSON OF A BITCH

Let me paraphrase:

I don't have to agree with the court ruling on ID because I don't expect humans to understand ID to be able to rule on it.

So.... how do you understand it? Being a believer? What if the judge is a believer, can he understand and rule on it then?

Also, that's a pretty slick on the fly rebuttal. You're good at this troll thing.

Because of the title and your generalizations of atheists in your op. That would be my guess.


If atheism is a region. Does that mean they can now argue the God part of the pledge of allegiance (and all other references to God) is religious discrimination?

Maybe atheists should embrace that argument.

You're ridiculous for surmising that "all" atheists "point fingers at theists". No one will take you seriously if you make such fallacious claims.

Go to school, son.

ALTER2EGO to SOMMERSET:

How do you know the judge who already ruled on this is not a believer? No human can define intelligent design in scientific terms because miracles are beyond the realm of human understanding--and therefore beyond the realm of human scientific knowledge. That's what I just got through telling you. So it makes no different if the very HUMAN judge is a believer. He can only rule according to the rules of HUMAN law or else he runs the risk of getting removed from the bench for not separating church and state. Got it?


NEXT!

I could die a happy man if it turned out that Alter2Ego was actually Sklansky trolling us all.

Waiting for the big reveal on April Fools.