Cool story, bro.

(March 17, 2013 at 9:39 pm)ChadWooters Wrote: I don't worry to much about politics; I know the King.

Elvis is dead, man.

Nah, he just went home.

(March 17, 2013 at 5:40 pm)jstrodel Wrote: [E]ducation is something deep and profoundly spiritual, not meant to serve the state and be used as a tool to coerce and subjugate the minds of free people to make them into pre-professional materialists with small minds and little imagination, courage or spirituality.

I knew there was a word for people like me. I just didn't know what it was.

---

Is it fair to say that we've wandered off the question of where atheists get their morals and onto a demonstration that knowing God is no guarantee of them either?

Contrary to popular belief, man, not god, developed moral reasoning.

Don't think so?

Then explain why moral reason has, like man, evolved?

200 years ago, the majority of the world (even the "godly religious" people) felt slavery was acceptable and not morally objectionable. Now, the opposite is true.

And that argument has literally thousands and thousands of other references.

A person's morals are based on a combination of elements:

Upbringing, the influence of society, social standards, personal preferences, etc.

Has religion influenced morals?

Yes and no. As I said, neither god, nor religion, are the orgin of morals, one way or the other. But religion has promoted, perpetuated, and even inforced moral standards both good and bad.

Ultimately, it's up to the individual to carefully examine all of the information available and decide what is truly right and wrong. Unfortunately, the vast majority of individuals do not choose to examine all of the information. And religion, more than any other force, influences such neglect and ignorance.

(March 16, 2013 at 1:11 pm)jstrodel Wrote:

(March 16, 2013 at 1:08 pm)jrsm_10 Wrote: jstrodel wrote:

It is unreasonable in so many ways. How should we do this? Let's give the race majority the last word in what ethnicity can go to school and who sits where. No wait! I think we have more women than men in the US, so women get to decide the gender of all our government officials. No wait! It doesn't work that way. It's called civilization. We protect ALL of our people. I agree to do this for you if you agree to do the same for me. I won't rob your house at night if you agree to not rob mine. I agree to not rape you if you agree to not rape me. I agree to not mix my religion in your child's education if you agree to not mix your religion in my child's education. Now that we agree to not mix it in, let's educate our children in everything else except religion (unless you plan to teach about every single religion to be fair). You get to go to church in your spare time as I get to... do something funner that you wouldn't like... in my spare time. YOU don't realize how authoritarian YOU are, Mr. jstodel.

I advocated for a modest restructuring of educational finance, permitting people to use their tax dollars to fund schools that are closer to what they believe.

The fact that you took what I said out of context and ran with it proves that you don't really care what I have to say.

It is not authoritarian to want people to be able to choose, for instance, whether they go to a school which indoctrinates people with a secular ideology that is against their religious beliefs or not.

Indeed! This is a great example of a straw-man. I'm all about debating religion, but lets do it logically people!!!

Quote:"If a man values his wife's virtue above her looks, serves his parents to the best of his ability,
is prepared to lay down his life for his lord and keeps his promises to his friends, I would judge
that he is most learned, though he may never have been to school."

— Zi Xia, Spring and Autumn Period

On myself, the way I want to be treated as an individual sharing this pile of dirt. Then I aim to treat everyone in the same manner.

(March 18, 2013 at 4:20 am)smax Wrote: 200 years ago, the majority of the world (even the "godly religious" people) felt slavery was acceptable and not morally objectionable. Now, the opposite is true.

Thank you Wilber Wilberforce and Christian abolitionists.

(March 18, 2013 at 10:49 am)apophenia Wrote:

Quote:"If a man values his wife's virtue above her looks, serves his parents to the best of his ability,
is prepared to lay down his life for his lord and keeps his promises to his friends, I would judge
that he is most learned, though he may never have been to school."

— Zi Xia, Spring and Autumn Period

Early conservative appeals to nostalgia and statist propaganda..lol.