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

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

On Mon, 17 Oct 2005, James E Mackey wrote:

> Jack Uretsky wrote:
>
> > Hi all-
> >        James seems to make the common error that our accepted morality
> > stems from a Jewish and/or Christian religious tradition.
> It may be a common assumption, but its not an error!

        Well that was sure easy for you to say, especially without
supporting reasoning which would require something earlier than Greek
culture.

> >  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.
> After reading the code of  Hammurabi (not an easy read!) I did not find
> much in it like the ten commandments. Did I miss an appendix?

        Yes, of course.  It's called Leviticus.
        For a more precise statement, see Bleninsopp's book.  After
recounting the discovery of several texts of Near-Eastern laws from past
millenia since 1900 he writes (on p. 201) "Reading the covenant law book
against the background of this extensive corpus of cuneiform law reveals
the extent to which early Israel appropriated an ancient  and widespread
legal tradition."  He then proceeds to discuss specific examples.


> >        Neither humans, nor any other social animals, owe their patterns
> > of behaviour to a divinely-inspired text.
> I, of course, disagree

        It's a free country.  Even flat-earthers can, and evidently do,
vote.
> James Mackey



                        Regards,
                                Jack
--
"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