[Phys-L] Re: [SPAM-4.611] Re: THE WEDGE STRATEGY of The ID Movement

[jlu at HEP.ANL.GOV (Jack Uretsky)]

Hi all-
        James seems to make the common error that our accepted morality
stems from a Jewish and/or Christian religious tradition.  I recommend
that he familiarize himself with the moral standards relied upon by
Aristotle in criticizing current theatrical works in his "Poetics."
        Also, the 10 commandments, probably written down during the
Baylonian Captivity, owe a great deal to the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi,
which date back to earlier than 2000 bce.
        Neither humans, nor any other social animals, owe their patterns
of behaviour to a divinely-inspired text.
                                Regards,
                                        Jack


On Thu, 13 Oct 2005, James E Mackey wrote:

> Or one might say that the decline in moral basis in our society allows
> governments to do things that would have prompted massive opposition in
> earlier generations, when the US was still a "Christian?" nation and at
> least paid official "lip-service" to christian principles.
> James Mackey
>
> Robert B Zannelli wrote:
>
> > In a message dated 10/12/2005 9:29:34 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> > trebor@WINBEAM.COM writes:
> >
> > The  underlying premise of this tirade seems to be that civilized behavior
> > can  only be motivated by theistic injunctions.  This is the error that  needs
> > correction.  Why not start a movement toward fostering  reason-based
> > civility?
> >
> > Bob Sciamanda
> >
> > ===============================
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Bob this movement exist, it's called Humanism. And the notion that we need
> > theism to have civilized behavior is like saying we need Hitler for good
> > government.  Seems to me that that those countries with the least religious
> > influence are by far the most civilized. The decent of the United States into
> > promoting and committing torture and mass murder has coincided with the  increased
> > influence of religion in Government.
> >
> > Bob Zannelli
> >
> >
> > _http://www.americanhumanist.org/index.html_
> > (http://www.americanhumanist.org/index.html)

--
"Trust me.  I have a lot of experience at this."
                General Custer's unremembered message to his men,
                just before leading them into the Little Big Horn Valley