His post is the intellectual equivalent of a suicide car bomber. He doesn't care how irrelevant he makes his own religion look as long as he makes atheism look as bad as his religious beliefs. I think we can now conclude that christianity is as important as playing golf on Saturdays.
It's every bit as bad as I thought. In the proposal thread I asked what definition of religion would be used. I thought that would be a helpful way to set the ground rules, but it's clear he's mainly focusing on irrelevant trappings. Golf on Saturdays is a good analogue, but a better one might be political parties:
'Consider these facts about political parties and see if it has all the trappings
of a practiced religion :
1. Political parties are highly organized throughout this nation and the world. There are many large Political Organizations that would love a greater constituency and advertise for such.
2. There are even
Political Camps throughout the nation
3. They meet regularly to discuss local and national agendas which
include scrutinizing Democrats and Republicans.
4. The Political Organizations collect dues regularly just like Churches
5. They have very large national Conferences yearly just like Church
Denominations do.
6. There are active Internet Political Newsgroups to educate followers in their tenets
7. They collaborate to build up each other in their freewill chosen
political philosophies the same that Church Members build up one another in
following and obeying Christ as a lifestyle.'
and so on
Finally, at the end...
"If we define religion as someones explanation of ultimate
realitythe origin, operation, meaning, and destiny of all things"
Well, I guess we agree that defining religion will be important to the debate.