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Politics : Evolution -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Solon who wrote (63691)	12/10/2014 12:49:12 PM
From: Greg or e	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 69300

"The idea that rights come from God was a sop to Cerberus." No it wasn't. Even Thomas Jefferson with his heretical Christianity realized that. The philosophical impossibility of deriving moral obligations from a strict materialist worldview is not new. Naked reason is not sufficient to establish moral obligations or universal rights, they must come from an authority which is beyond ourselves. Christian theologian, John Locke (from whom Jefferson directly took these ideas) was reacting to the theological Doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings and this reaction was directly related to the Protestant Reformation. Both positions require God as the ultimate source of moral authority. Your "sop to Cerberus" theory doesn't hold water. "Would you be comfortable with a MAYOR who said, “If they don’t like an Islamic theme, if they don’t like an Islamist parade – stay at home.”??" Sure. Nobody is being compelled to worship any god. They are free to have a parade if they want to, and I am free not to attend. I do find it interesting that the perpetually outraged, atheist whack-jobs at FFRF are not opposing Gay Pride parades attended and endorsed by politicians, or Churches being forced to marry Homosexuals.