Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert Ingersoll
How is holding a meeting of freethinkers somehow the equivalent of going to church? I think you might be mistaken in your base assumption.
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I don't consider it equivalent, but many do, seeking to define atheism as a religion itself, with taught dogma, etc. So, yeah, I'm definitely projecting some former arguments I have heard along this same vein, here.
You're absolutely right that atheists/freethinkers get together for all those reasons in your post, and not to self-reinforce their own beliefs (which I see as a central function of churches). Probably a poor choice of words on my part.
This particular guy seems to want to be simply left alone. But, like that Newdow guy, that make a big stink over the Pledge/motto, I think he's going about it wrong.