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So I was reading the recent thread discussing the pope's comparison of secularism to nazism (link), and other similar threads regarding religion, and I was surprised to see so many TL members seeming to have an atheist or agnostic viewpoint. While I am not sure of the exact breakdown of the world as a whole, it seems like TL has an abnormally large representation of these viewpoints. So I was curious to see what the TL community's views on religion were via a poll.
Please note that I did not want to put this poll in that specific thread specifically to avoid selection bias (i.e. perhaps people who would want to read that thread are statistically more likely to be an athiest... etc), so I created a new thread. Also, I did use the search function and found this thread: (link), but that thread is 5 years old, the community I'm sure has changed much since then, and the particular poll was not as detailed as I'd like it to be. So I hope that justifies my creation of a new thread (of course, if mods disagree, use your mighty mod powers to shut this down). Without further ado, TL, what are your views on religion?
Poll: What is your Religious Identification?Atheist (I do not believe in God) (133) 54% Religious (I believe in God) (60) 24% Agnostic (I refuse to commit to either the belief or the disbelief in God) (46) 19% Undecided (I have yet to make up my mind) (8) 3% 247 total votes Your vote: What is your Religious Identification? (Vote): Religious (I believe in God)
(Vote): Atheist (I do not believe in God)
(Vote): Agnostic (I refuse to commit to either the belief or the disbelief in God)
(Vote): Undecided (I have yet to make up my mind)
edit: ^^ perhaps this should be in blogs. sorry!
updates:
#1:On September 20 2010 13:32 rally_point wrote:
For the first two options it seems like you're being specific to a single God. It might be better phrased as "I believe in the existence of God(s)", or maybe even just "I follow a religion."
Just wanted to point this out because i think (not entirely sure), when you use "God" with that kind of grammar it refers to Jesus. If that were the case then you're missing a ton of other religious options.
Good point, but since polls are not edit-able, please just allow for the religious option to encompass all God(s) when you vote.
#2: It has been made abundantly clear that the poll is not 100% perfect in its exact definitions. Of course, it would take years for a consensus to arise on what these exact definitions should be. Please just choose whichever one you personally believe best approximates your religious belief system, however imperfect you believe the poll options to be.
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Atheist unless playing SC religiously counts as a religion. If so, sign me up!
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I thought that agnostic basically = undecided?
On September 20 2010 13:19 DTown wrote:
While I am not sure of the exact breakdown of the world as a whole, it seems like TL has an abnormally large representation of these viewpoints.
I believe China is 60-70% atheist/agnostic, so that should mean something...
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I'm Roman Catholic in title and practice.
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I think undecided means you haven't really given it much thought.
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Agnostic Atheist, as being agnostic in and of itself is a form of not believing in God. I don't think the two should really be separated on the poll.
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On September 20 2010 13:22 synapse wrote:
I thought that agnostic basically = undecided?
No, there is a substantial difference. Agnostics typically believe that it is impossible to determine whether or not there is actually a god, and therefore take the firm stance that declaring either that god exists or that god does not exist is an exercise in futility and is generally pointless. They are not about to change their minds and become religious or atheists anytime soon. In comparison, someone who is undecided may be reading religious texts for the first time, having an interior struggle with what they believe in, and just generally haven't sorted the details out yet in their minds sufficiently to reach a conclusion. In short Agnosticism != Undecided. If people would still like a clearer differentiation to make a more informed decision in the poll, let me know and I will try to apply my sleep-deprived brain for a more lucid explanation. = )
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Is it really a big surprise that most teamliquid users are godless heathens?
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Atheist and undecided is the same thing. As for agnostic, it is not mutually exclusive so one could be either agnostic atheist or agnostic theist etc.
A better poll would have been
Atheist
Theist
Pantheist
Deist
Pan-deist
Ignosticism
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On September 20 2010 13:25 TwoToneTerran wrote:
Agnostic Atheist, as being agnostic in and of itself is a form of not believing in God. I don't think the two should really be separated on the poll.
I disagree, they are very different. An atheist says "I do not believe in God." An agnostic thinks that Atheist is just as ludicrous for claiming a disbelief in God as the religious person is in claiming a belief in God. While they both imply a degree of belief less than that of a religious person, their religious views are far from being identical.
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No, there is a substantial difference. Agnostics typically believe that it is impossible to determine whether or not there is actually a god, and therefore take the firm stance that declaring either that god exists or that god does not exist is an exercise in futility and is generally pointless. They are not about to change their minds and become religious or atheists anytime soon. In comparison, someone who is undecided may be reading religious texts for the first time, having an interior struggle with what they believe in, and just generally haven't sorted the details out yet in their minds sufficiently to reach a conclusion. In short Agnosticism != Undecided. If people would still like a clearer differentiation to make a more informed decision in the poll, let me know and I will try to apply my sleep-deprived brain for a more lucid explanation. = )
Agnosticism isn't that specific, it represents a broad range of beliefs ranging from "I'm not sure" to "We can never know" to "I believe in my own personal god, like, one who doesn't doesn't encourage [Amoral Suggestion]".
I'm a hardcore Athiest, but I occasionally attend a community church, and used to go on a weekly basis with my gf (before we broke up last year lol). I don't really view my Atheism as that big of a deal, but at the same time, I'm very certain of it. I probably wouldn't have even posted if I hadn't procrastinated for a good six hours over the last day trying to get work done and instead ending up on that religion thread down yonder lol.
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This poll ultimately lacks options and lacks thought.
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I define god as that which created us and the universe. I believe the main scriptures of the world's religions to all be fiction with good morals at times.
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I'm agnostic
because none of us really know!
your undecided poll pretty much fits in with agnostic btw
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I thought atheist means they believe there is no god? Also could you put in some options for those who don't believe in 'God' but are religious, like druidism etc...would just be interesting to see the variety 
as for myself i'm agnostic. can't say there isn't a god, but not very much evidence in my opinion that there is one.
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Atheist I guess but I'd prefer anti-theist or "sane" would have done just nicely.
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I believe all religious deities were actually aliens.
Don't see an option for that on the poll..
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For the first two options it seems like you're being specific to a single God. It might be better phrased as "I believe in the existence of God(s)", or maybe even just "I follow a religion."
Just wanted to point this out because i think (not entirely sure), when you use "God" with that kind of grammar it refers to Jesus. If that were the case then you're missing a ton of other religious options.
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On September 20 2010 13:30 Evil_Monkey_ wrote:
This poll ultimately lacks options and lacks thought.
Sometimes it is best not to get too specific to try and capture more general attitudes than it is to list every possible sub-category of religious (dis)belief. But if you really feel that it misses the mark by that much, feel free to improve upon it and create your own poll. = (
edit: On September 20 2010 13:32 Khul Sadukar wrote:
I believe all religious deities were actually aliens.
Don't see an option for that on the poll..
<333
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On September 20 2010 13:28 DTown wrote:Show nested quote +On September 20 2010 13:25 TwoToneTerran wrote:
Agnostic Atheist, as being agnostic in and of itself is a form of not believing in God. I don't think the two should really be separated on the poll. I disagree, they are very different. An atheist says "I do not believe in God." An agnostic thinks that Atheist is just as ludicrous for claiming a disbelief in God as the religious person is in claiming a belief in God. While they both imply a degree of belief less than that of a religious person, their religious views are far from being identical.
NO Atheist is a lack of belief that is all. Agnosticism is say one cannot know if there is a god therefore I am an agnostic atheist and I’m pretty sure the vast majority of atheist are AA.
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Given the age distribution on TL, the percentage of atheists isn't much of a surprise.
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Does believing in a god=religious? I believe that a god created the universe under natural laws but I don't follow any kind of religion or religious practices. This poll doesn't work for me. ><
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Raised in a Christian, very conservative home and that's obviously really had an effect on me. I'm a freshman in college for what it's worth. I've been pretty hurt by many people that profess to be Christians and have been kind of turned away from the religion itself, which brings up the argument of if you can judge a god by his followers.
I do think that there's some higher power out there, but I'm not too sure what religion is actually right, if any.
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Roman Catholic 
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Ok, I'll be the one to explain this ><
Theist = Belief in a god
Atheist = Without belief in a god
Gnostic = With knowledge
Agnostic = Without knowledge
So, in regards to religion:
Agnostic = Without knowledge to chose belief of a god or belief of no god.
Agnostic defaults to Atheist.
Basically, you can't be Agnostic and be theistic, it fails the logic test. However, you can be Agnostic and an Atheist, since they're in effect the same thing.
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On September 20 2010 13:35 Shatter wrote:
Does believing in a god=religious? I believe that a god created the universe under natural laws but I don't follow any kind of religion or religious practices. This poll doesn't work for me. ><
That is deism
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On September 20 2010 13:35 Shatter wrote:
Does believing in a god=religious? I believe that a god created the universe under natural laws but I don't follow any kind of religion or religious practices. This poll doesn't work for me. ><
Right next to Religious it says "(I believe in God)," so under the OP's definition, yes.
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On September 20 2010 13:33 njnick wrote:Show nested quote +On September 20 2010 13:28 DTown wrote:On September 20 2010 13:25 TwoToneTerran wrote:
Agnostic Atheist, as being agnostic in and of itself is a form of not believing in God. I don't think the two should really be separated on the poll. I disagree, they are very different. An atheist says "I do not believe in God." An agnostic thinks that Atheist is just as ludicrous for claiming a disbelief in God as the religious person is in claiming a belief in God. While they both imply a degree of belief less than that of a religious person, their religious views are far from being identical. NO Atheist is a lack of belief that is all. Agnosticism is say one cannot know if there is a god therefore I am an agnostic atheist and I’m pretty sure the vast majority of atheist are AA.
Ok, apparently the definition of the different categories is very much open to interpretation and debate. I would prefer this thread not turn into an analytical discussion of what constitutes atheist/agnosticism etc...which is why I included the clarifications in the parenthesis. I think I got the general idea across of what I meant by each poll option, so just try and mark down the one that aligns as close as possible to your actual belief system.
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i think a good word missing from the poll is spiritual
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I think the poll should be changed to this.
Agnostic Atheist
Nostic Atheist
Agnostic Theist
Nostic Theist
None (does not think about this subject)
I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, but I'm fairly sure Theism and Atheism refers to belief, while being agnostic, or nostic, refers to knowledge.
Ex: Agnostic Atheist=I do not believe in a God, but I don't know if there is, or is not a God.
Edit: O my 2 pages already. When I started making my post there were only two replies, looks like people beat me to it
Edit 2: Religious as an option should really be taken out, say Atheist or Theist, that kind of makes it almost like comparing apples and oranges.
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On September 20 2010 13:32 Khul Sadukar wrote:
I believe all religious deities were actually aliens.
Don't see an option for that on the poll..
Haha If I was an alien I would fuck with poor primitive beings too.
(voted atheist, because religion is an anachronism)
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On September 20 2010 13:36 njnick wrote:Show nested quote +On September 20 2010 13:35 Shatter wrote:
Does believing in a god=religious? I believe that a god created the universe under natural laws but I don't follow any kind of religion or religious practices. This poll doesn't work for me. >< That is deism Ya but deism is a belief, not a religion. Religions are a set of beliefs based on creation and origin but also have rites and practices associated with it.
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I jumped on the atheist bandwagon
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Pretty sure agnostic and atheist are the same thing.
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On September 20 2010 13:39 Trion wrote:
I think the poll should be changed to this.
Agnostic Atheist
Nostic Atheist
Agnostic Theist
Nostic Theist
None (does not think about this subject)
I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, but I'm fairly sure Theism and Atheism refers to belief, while being agnostic, or nostic, refers to knowledge.
Ex: Agnostic Atheist=I do not believe in a God, but I don't know if there is, or is not a God.
Fair enough, but it's "Gnostic" :b
On September 20 2010 13:41 MasterDana wrote:
Pretty sure agnostic and atheist are the same thing.
Nope, one deals with general knowledge and the other deals with gods. It just so happens if your agnostic about gods, your logical default would be atheism.
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Your poll doesn't cover all the options. I'm a Buddhist so I'm religious, but don't believe in a God.
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On September 20 2010 13:37 DTown wrote:Show nested quote +On September 20 2010 13:33 njnick wrote:On September 20 2010 13:28 DTown wrote:On September 20 2010 13:25 TwoToneTerran wrote:
Agnostic Atheist, as being agnostic in and of itself is a form of not believing in God. I don't think the two should really be separated on the poll. I disagree, they are very different. An atheist says "I do not believe in God." An agnostic thinks that Atheist is just as ludicrous for claiming a disbelief in God as the religious person is in claiming a belief in God. While they both imply a degree of belief less than that of a religious person, their religious views are far from being identical. NO Atheist is a lack of belief that is all. Agnosticism is say one cannot know if there is a god therefore I am an agnostic atheist and I’m pretty sure the vast majority of atheist are AA. Ok, apparently the definition of the different categories is very much open to interpretation and debate. I would prefer this thread not turn into an analytical discussion of what constitutes atheist/agnosticism etc...which is why I included the clarifications in the parenthesis. I think I got the general idea across of what I meant by each poll option, so just try and mark down the one that aligns as close as possible to your actual belief system.
Not to sound like an ass but look at my post on the first page that would have been a better poll.
Also three of the categories just do not make sense and keeps this perception that atheism is a comitial stance witch for some reason keeps going on. That is why I replied so to inform people. If I used socialism in the wrong context I should be corrected because at least for me I would like to know how to use the word.
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On September 20 2010 13:40 Shatter wrote:Show nested quote +On September 20 2010 13:36 njnick wrote:On September 20 2010 13:35 Shatter wrote:
Does believing in a god=religious? I believe that a god created the universe under natural laws but I don't follow any kind of religion or religious practices. This poll doesn't work for me. >< That is deism Ya but deism is a belief, not a religion. Religions are a set of beliefs based on creation and origin but also have rites and practices associated with it.
never call it a relgion
?
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On September 20 2010 13:41 MasterDana wrote:
Pretty sure agnostic and atheist are the same thing.
OK, fine. If this is what you believe, then add the two categories in the poll together in your head. Problems solved!!
:D
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On September 20 2010 13:45 njnick wrote:Show nested quote +On September 20 2010 13:40 Shatter wrote:On September 20 2010 13:36 njnick wrote:On September 20 2010 13:35 Shatter wrote:
Does believing in a god=religious? I believe that a god created the universe under natural laws but I don't follow any kind of religion or religious practices. This poll doesn't work for me. >< That is deism Ya but deism is a belief, not a religion. Religions are a set of beliefs based on creation and origin but also have rites and practices associated with it. never call it a relgion ? Well then how were you addressing my post? I was just wondering why believing in god=religious in the OP. I guess I got confused on what you were pointing out.
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I chose undecided because I believe I'm to young to make a decision on what I'm going to believe in for the rest of my life. So one might call that agnostic, but I dislike labeling.
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On September 20 2010 13:47 Shatter wrote:Show nested quote +On September 20 2010 13:45 njnick wrote:On September 20 2010 13:40 Shatter wrote:On September 20 2010 13:36 njnick wrote:On September 20 2010 13:35 Shatter wrote:
Does believing in a god=religious? I believe that a god created the universe under natural laws but I don't follow any kind of religion or religious practices. This poll doesn't work for me. >< That is deism Ya but deism is a belief, not a religion. Religions are a set of beliefs based on creation and origin but also have rites and practices associated with it. never call it a relgion ? Well then how were you addressing my post? I was just wondering why believing in god=religious in the OP. I guess I got confused on what you were pointing out.
I was pointing out what definition of “god” the guy I quoted would fall under. Sry if I wasn’t clear
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On September 20 2010 13:47 Shatter wrote:Show nested quote +On September 20 2010 13:45 njnick wrote:On September 20 2010 13:40 Shatter wrote:On September 20 2010 13:36 njnick wrote:On September 20 2010 13:35 Shatter wrote:
Does believing in a god=religious? I believe that a god created the universe under natural laws but I don't follow any kind of religion or religious practices. This poll doesn't work for me. >< That is deism Ya but deism is a belief, not a religion. Religions are a set of beliefs based on creation and origin but also have rites and practices associated with it. never call it a relgion ? Well then how were you addressing my post? I was just wondering why believing in god=religious in the OP. I guess I got confused on what you were pointing out.
Once again, do not take what I wrote in the OP to be the end-all-be-all of what I am trying to say. If I erroneously equated believing in god to religion in the OP, then so be it. I still think everyone here should be able to choose an answer in the poll that reasonably approximates their religious belief system. The idea is not to nitpick and point out every little aspect of theology, but to try to get an over-arching consensus of the religious identification of the TL community. With that, I'm done attempting to defend my thread, lol. Flame away!
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Poll is broken. Agnosticism is not on the same plane as atheism and theism. Agnosticism deals with knowledge. An agnostic believes that is impossible to KNOW whether there is a God or not. Any reasonable person is an agnostic. Atheism/theism deal with belief. An atheist is a person who lacks a belief in a God. That is all atheism says about the person. An atheist does NOT have to claim to KNOW that there is no God, but they can claim that if they want to. Most people who call themselves "atheist" are really atheist-agnostic. In addition, I believe that even most of the people who say they "know" that there is no God are really just atheist-agnostics as well -- they mean that they "know" there is no God in the same way that a Christian "knows" that the FSM doesn't exist. Most people that call themselves agnostics are really atheists because they LACK the belief in a God, and that is the only requirement to be an atheist. There is no middle zone for belief. I think they call themselves agnostics because they don't like the negative connotation of the word "atheist", or they just don't know what the words really mean (or both).
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On September 20 2010 13:51 waxypants wrote:
Poll is broken. Agnosticism is not on the same plane as the atheism and theism.
this
Similarly, theism/atheism are not equivalent to religious/irreligious as the poll implies.
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I'm a Latter-Day Saint, or in more common slang, Mormon. Served a full-time two year mission for my church in the Halifax, Canada mission, which encompasses all the maritime provinces and Aroostook County Maine.
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On September 20 2010 13:50 mikehall683 wrote:
I chose undecided because I believe I'm to young to make a decision on what I'm going to believe in for the rest of my life. So one might call that agnostic, but I dislike labeling.
Ok, so you have no belief in a god and you don't believe there is no god. By definition you are an Atheist.
And yes, labels suck. Unless they are for denoting poison, or something flammable.
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On September 20 2010 13:32 Carefoot wrote:
Atheist I guess but I'd prefer anti-theist or "sane" would have done just nicely.
Hey, let's be friendly here. We don't need to insult people for their beliefs, especially those whose beliefs inspire them to do good, help others, etc.
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this threads primed to turn into a religious shitstorm. in fact, you can apply religion to any discussion and it'll turn into a shitstorm. (athiest)
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On September 20 2010 13:56 0neder wrote:Show nested quote +On September 20 2010 13:32 Carefoot wrote:
Atheist I guess but I'd prefer anti-theist or "sane" would have done just nicely. Hey, let's be friendly here. We don't need to insult people for their beliefs, especially those whose beliefs inspire them to do good, help others, etc.
But they also give a hiding spot for those crazy dudes who blow stuff up or start things like The Crusades :/
Edit: Not that they themselves are going to do those things...
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Why does the Atheist stance within the Agnostic brackets have an affirmative claim?
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I like what religion teaches people about morals, ethics, and how to live your life, but I don't believe that there's a true God. At best, it's a symbol of the human soul.
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I'd say my belief coincides with Deism, at least I believe there had to be a greater power that created the universe at some point or another. However, such a powerful being would care little about such meddlesome primates like us on our over-oxidized planet as we fight over land, life and love.
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Baltimore, USA22251 Posts
On September 20 2010 13:56 Terranist wrote:
this threads primed to turn into a religious shitstorm. in fact, you can apply religion to any discussion and it'll turn into a shitstorm. (athiest)
This.
In my 5 years or so modding TL, I've never seen a religion-based thread end well, and this one is already showing some signs. Please take discussions like this off TL.net.
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EPT
