Please tabooreligion. If you want to argue that a certain cluster of beliefs commonly held by upper-middle-class white American liberals is systematically mistaken in ways analogous to religious beliefs, and that this has harmful consequences, do come out and say this explicitly, and maybe we could have a productive discussion about the actual issues at hand. But gratuitous misuse of the world religion to describe positions you dislike just functions as a semantic stopsign. Actual religions have things like deities, and prayers, and rituals.
Actual religions have things like deities, and prayers, and rituals.
No, not necessarily. The usage you’ve criticized is perfectly compatible with the correct definition of the word. Please familiarize yourself with that definition before offering further criticism.
Taking a word and re-defining it into a ‘semantic stopsign’ doesn’t help anything or anyone, except confusion and causes that can be aided by confusion.
Please taboo religion. If you want to argue that a certain cluster of beliefs commonly held by upper-middle-class white American liberals is systematically mistaken in ways analogous to religious beliefs, and that this has harmful consequences, do come out and say this explicitly, and maybe we could have a productive discussion about the actual issues at hand. But gratuitous misuse of the world religion to describe positions you dislike just functions as a semantic stopsign. Actual religions have things like deities, and prayers, and rituals.
Wiki articles for Rationalist taboo and Semantic stopsign.
Assuming a charitable interpretation, I think he was being somewhat tongue-in-cheek with the use of “religion” there.
No, not necessarily. The usage you’ve criticized is perfectly compatible with the correct definition of the word. Please familiarize yourself with that definition before offering further criticism.
Taking a word and re-defining it into a ‘semantic stopsign’ doesn’t help anything or anyone, except confusion and causes that can be aided by confusion.