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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: average joe who wrote (79812)	12/29/2003 2:05:31 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 82486

Wow… What a stimulating article! Part I There are many misconceptions that both theists and atheists have about the natural role of a personal God. ”…since religious teachings contradict the requirements of capitalism.” I am not aware of any such contradiction. ”The most obvious conflict centers on the religious belief that the profit motive is immoral. What religious teaching states that making a profit is immoral? There are many examples in religion of hard working honest individuals being rewarded with abundance. It is an obligation upon those who have received such rewards to share through charity with the have-nots. There is no moral obligation to simply quit profiting from one’s labor or to make sure everybody else is living with the same resources. We are created with equal opportunity not with equal minds, bodies, resources, talents, skills, etc. ” If we are all obligated to sacrifice ourselves on behalf of the have-nots, then private property, the pursuit of wealth, and the entire free enterprise system are evil.” What a crock…What do we sacrifice to the have-nots if we are not able to profit from our labor. ”The only virtuous system, according to religious doctrine, would be one in which the goods of this earth are common property, to be used selflessly, for the “public good” — i.e., a system of socialism.” This might make sense in a static world in which there is no productive increase of resources. However… look around you. What the have-nots are receiving via the public resources is housing, food, education, clothing, fuel, entertainment, etc that is a result of productive effort that is a profit beyond the naturally occurring resources of the earth. ”The U.S. Catholic Bishops have been particularly astute in recognizing this connection, as they have consistently argued for an increasing government presence in our economic lives, so that wealth can be redistributed from the productive to the non-productive.” No big surprise…I’d love to visit with them but they are too dumb to figure it out. They’d have gotten real jobs otherwise. By virtue of their chosen profession they are beneficiaries of the biggest welfare system in the world. Redistribute…and then? What? After you have dismantled the system that created those resources you consume the resources and ask for more … We don’t let people shoot them selves in the head to teach them that it is fatal.

To: average joe who wrote (79812)	12/29/2003 2:05:45 PM
From: Solon	Respond to of 82486

"They did not regard the citizen as an obedient servant, but as a sovereign person, who ought to be left free to follow the conclusions of his own reasoning mind." It seems so obvious, doesn't it? Yet it is a rare privilege in history. We take it for granted, but it is anything but...

To: average joe who wrote (79812)	12/29/2003 2:20:41 PM
From: one_less	Respond to of 82486

Wow… What a stimulating article! Part II "But underlying all this is a deeper point. Religion cannot be the basis of freedom and capitalism because of its inherently authoritarian nature." False dichotomy… The authority is the author of the principles of faith and practice, not the corrupt persons who develop regimes and systems to subordinate us under them instead of under our faith in the highest good. ”Religion demands acceptance on faith. It demands obedient followers. It demands the subordination of the individual’s mind and the individual’s interests to the dictates of some higher authority.” Yes under the supernatural author not under the corrupt usurpers. ” Under capitalism, by contrast, the individual is supreme. Capitalism recognizes the autonomy of the individual citizen and the inalienability of his individual rights. Under capitalism the individual is not subordinate to world governments or other individual oppressors…and is free… absolutely no contradiction with that and obedience to God. ” This is the most fundamental reason why, where faith is culturally dominant — in the Dark Ages dominated by the medieval church or in the theocracy run by the ayatollahs of contemporary Iran — political/economic freedom is stifled.” Yee’ahh … It was … is … corrupt. ”They established simultaneously the freedom to practice one’s religion privately and the freedom to be politically free from religious authority.” The misconception here is that all religious authority are based on corrupt systems organized by men to oppress the rest of us. I am politically free to serve the author (authority) of creation.