[jammies]

Originally Posted by Howie_16

Why do you get to be so offended because someone knocked on your door and invited you to join their church?! Boo effin' hoo. Mormons interupting your Jerry Springer hour doesn't give you free reign to have a hissy fit. Just say, "No thank you." and move on with the rest of your life. I am not a hypocrite because I go to church on Sunday.

Since nobody made that argument, I'm not sure why you are denying it. Other than, hypothetically, a tendency to assume persecution where none exists.

To be a hypocrite, you would have to think Wicca is not only a mistaken belief, but a ridiculous belief worthy of mockery. Is that what you think?

Originally Posted by Howie_16

In my analogy, "hockey fan" = "being religious" and "supporting a particular team while I support another" = "having a certian set of beliefs that differs from my own" doesn't appear to me to be that vague or obtuse. An Oiler fan would probably agree that they like hockey, and someone who practices Wicca would probably admit to being somewhat religious.

I think my comparison was perfectly clear to the majority of CP'ers.

An analogy only works if the original argument and the analogous argument map on a one to one level - do you understand that "Oiler Fan" is on a different categorical level than "hockey fan", and that "Wiccan" is NOT on a different categorical level than "Christian" or "Muslim" or "Buddhist" or any other example of "believers in some kind of God"?

Clearly you don't, as you remake the same argument above, and make the exact same error. If the analogy doesn't map, it is not useful in evaluating the original argument. You are comparing unlike things as if they were like, and that is a fatal flaw in your logic regardless of how "clear" it is to you.

I repeat my expansion of the original argument, as apparently you skimmed over it the first time: If you believe in one thing, mocking others who believe in something different, but no less plausible, is hypocritical as you are essentially mocking belief itself - claiming that it is a positive characteristic in yourself but a negative characteristic in others. There are arguments to be made against that statement, but your analogy isn't one of them.

Originally Posted by Howie_16

I wasn't mocking the religion, I was mocking the sensitivity of dissentowner. Was dissentowner expecting people to write about how brave he/she was to come out and state his/her Wiccan beliefs? Or ask how they can become Wiccan?

I'm pretty sure he was looking to see if there were any other Wiccans on CP, just like he originally posted. Some people were being funny but not in an offensive way, but others were clearly trying to get a reaction. I don't care for that kind of small-mindedness, as there is a distinct difference between questioning someone's beliefs in a thread where the intention is to debate those beliefs, and doing so in a thread where there was no such invitation. If the thread had been "What do you think about Wicca?" or even "Wiccan practioner cures cancer, scientists mystified", that would be different.

Originally Posted by Howie_16

Good point, nobody puts down Christians, especially here on CP.

Of course it has happened, but not nearly as much as the more "sensitive" Christian members think. Disagreement does not necessarily imply a "put down", unless of course any challenge at all to one's world-view is seen as dangerous antagonism.

Originally Posted by Howie_16

I think it is perfectly clear that your biases towards organized religion are preventing you from making competent responses in this thread. Please prove me wrong, or refrain from posting further.

With that kind of logical leaping you should look into making the 2012 Olympic team when they finally let sophistry into the event list. I don't even know where to start with this, other than to say that I think you mean "biases AGAINST organized religion", and that the word "competent" doesn't mean what you think it means.