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”. . . in both these particular cases, opinion equals pretense equals lies.”

In most any case, it appears that you have so framed your definitions that, if you encounter any departure from your opinion, you are free to call said departure a lie, should you choose that course. You haven’t exactly declared that to be your object, so you’ve given yourself the opportunity to retreat into plausible deniability if you are challenged, but your behavior reveals your intent. Apparently, you regard calling someone a liar to be a desirable debating tactic. It must be, then, that you don’t consider merely declaring your adversary mistaken to be a sufficiently robust riposte.

”. . . it seems you imagine I'm trying to let this scientist off the hook . . .”

However clearly and frequently you may express your denial, your behavior throws your declaration into disrepute. You can rehabilitate my imagination through the simple expedient of directing my attention to instances where you have ripped into scientists for declaring God to not exist, in the same manner as you have ripped into Christians for questioning the validity of one or another facet of evolution.

Now, in keeping with the grand tradition you’ve established, it’s time for you to again issue great billowing clouds of smoke and deny, deny, deny.

from 1,736 YHAOS:"However clearly and frequently you may express your denial, your behavior throws your declaration into disrepute. You can rehabilitate my imagination through the simple expedient of directing my attention to instances where you have ripped into scientists for declaring God to not exist, in the same manner as you have ripped into Christians for questioning the validity of one or another facet of evolution. "

Consider these questions: how many scientists do we have posting to this thread, who are at the same time:

brazenly declaring their religious atheism?
loudly claiming that atheism is a scientific theory or fact?
rudely insulting anyone who disagrees?
ganging up with other "scientists" to shout down any real voice of reason?

Of course, when I see such people posting here, I'll be more than happy to explain to them that what they're saying is a crock of sh*t, and they are big fat liars.

But so far, I haven't seen any of those folks. What I'm seeing instead is a quite different crowd. These folks:

brazenly declare their religious ID-Creationism.
loudly claim that ID-Creationism is a scientific theory or fact.
rudely insult anyone who disagrees.
gang up with other ID-Creationists to shout down any real voice of reason.

So, no doubt you know what I've been trying to explain...