First of all, thank you for your kind words. I do try to keep a civil head - I am an ex-Civil Servant after all - though sometimes the frustration from having to knock down the same brick walls again and again can lead, shall we say, to harsh words.
That was the nice bit. Now comes the part where I say that you're missing the point (sorry). I'll try to illustrate with an anecdote from my experience. I used to be active on a forum dedicated to a particular British sci-fi series which took place in a dystopian future in which an oppressive regime held the lower orders in thrall. These lower orders were classified into 'grades' depending on their usefulness to society, Alpha Grades being the élite office worker types and Delta being essentially the shit shifters. A discussion on the forum ensued with members offering their opinions as to how the different grades were apportioned: either based on a person's intelligence, or ability, or even criminal potential. Then one member posed the observation that all of this chinwagging is fine but it is implicitly accepting that such a grade system is right.
The bible quotes that mention how slave owners ought to treat their slaves do precisely the same thing. They may offer such advice as 'don't beat your slave so much that he dies' or 'don't take your slaves from such-and-such people' or similar. But there is not one verse that says 'it is wrong for one human being to own another as property', and that's the morally indefensible part.
That was the nice bit. Now comes the part where I say that you're missing the point (sorry). I'll try to illustrate with an anecdote from my experience. I used to be active on a forum dedicated to a particular British sci-fi series which took place in a dystopian future in which an oppressive regime held the lower orders in thrall. These lower orders were classified into 'grades' depending on their usefulness to society, Alpha Grades being the élite office worker types and Delta being essentially the shit shifters. A discussion on the forum ensued with members offering their opinions as to how the different grades were apportioned: either based on a person's intelligence, or ability, or even criminal potential. Then one member posed the observation that all of this chinwagging is fine but it is implicitly accepting that such a grade system is right.
The bible quotes that mention how slave owners ought to treat their slaves do precisely the same thing. They may offer such advice as 'don't beat your slave so much that he dies' or 'don't take your slaves from such-and-such people' or similar. But there is not one verse that says 'it is wrong for one human being to own another as property', and that's the morally indefensible part.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'