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Politics : Should God be replaced? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: koan who wrote (27020)	8/29/2009 10:58:55 PM
From: Solon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 28931

"I am a hard core athiest existentialist. And as such, I can decide I want to live in a society that recognizes basic human decency. Nothing religous about it. Just my personal belief system. Nothing more." You misunderstand me. I was well aware of your atheism. (did I tell you my IQ was 158??). Well...now you know. When I said your philosophy was "religious", it did not mean or imply that YOU were religious. "I am a hard core athiest existentialist. And as such, I can decide I want to live in a society that recognizes basic human decency. Nothing religous about it. Just my personal belief system. Nothing more." And I have told you that that is a religious ideal in a proposal that has previously espoused subjectivism and denied objectivism. If you believed in an objective value of "human decency" you could have said it from the git-go. We could have discussed the OBJECTIVE premises that bind rational people and send people to the moon and all that. But maybe if enough people vote somebody WILL build that NASA space craft... Maybe somebody with a lot of kids on WELFARE! :-) Maybe the WELFARES will design the engine that will save the human race as they face their last attempt at survival (when our sun dies (which WILL come). Rand's philosophy might survive. Will the Welfare State?? What?? You just have a barbeque and sing Pete Seeger tunes...and then die because...;???

To: koan who wrote (27020)	8/30/2009 5:00:44 PM
From: Solon	Respond to of 28931

"Your strong suit is that you are a thinker and not an angry person. That is a big plus" Correct. ...."Not the ideas you think I hold." Don't assume that your sense of being misunderstood is attributable to me. It probably is not! "I can decide I want to live in a society that recognizes basic human decency. Nothing religous about it" If I suggest your belief system is "religious" I am using metaphor. I know you are atheist but some philosophies embody a type of faith as contrasted with reason... "Yes evolution is not only objective, but also cruel. And we humans are the first species able to rise above that." I don't entirely agree. I would claim we are the ONLY cruel species. Other species do harm as a matter of survival (with very rare exceptions). This is not "cruelty". Many humans practice the value of cruelty. Some rise above that. How do they do it? What makes a thoughtful human being different than a mindless human who never sees an apple falling from his smashing walk and never hears a child crying??? "For millions of years tribes forced compassion on other members in order to keep the tribe strong and because many htought it was simply the right thing to do" They didn't force compassion, they forced obedience. Compassion doesn't need to be forced (and cannot be). It is a personal value and decision. I don't really think it is compassionate to drug a 12 year old girl and cut out her heart and push her into a pool of water. They really did think they were honoring her (with their bloody compassion) but they were just murdering her because they had no system of basic human rights (based on reason), did they?? "My philosphy is that of a secular humanist. No heaven for me. I do what I do, because I feel it is the right thing to do. Just as I will feed a hungry animal or person, simply becasue I coudl see they were hungry. I do not need to explain that, or defend that action." See...there is much we agree on! I applaud and honor that 100%. Indeed, I have fed people many times and spoken with the hope of inspiring them (and I know for fact that some of these people have become fully human and we still touch base). They don't get a choice. I don't toss out money. But if they want to have a meal and a talk, that is dandy. "koan: "Mahority rule, no other way to do it. Simple as that." I TOTALLY disagree with that! I DON'T believe in letting the ignorant or the powerful determine my life or throwing my daughter off a cliff after cutting out her heart. And I DON'T believe in religious societies that condemn and murder women by throwing stones at their head...and I could go on and on, couldn't I??? "I believe sentient beings in the universe recognize compassion as one of the rules of a truly developed and mature mind" Why would you say "sentient" rather than "rational" when you are talking about a "mature mind"??? What would sentient beings use to "RECOGNIZE" anything???