Mario Goveia <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The point that has been made by me is that organized > religions provide their followers with some > universal > moral compass. Disorganized atheists have to devise > moral compasses of their own which can be whatever > they want it to be. I have repeatedly said that > these > can be better or not than those provided by > organized > religions. I have also said that having a moral > compass is no guarantee of anything. Know this when > you read his comments above, which are plainly false > in the proper context.
Folks, Here is an article I found on the Tanzanite-Goans list. Before you read it let me warn you that the article can drastically change your perception of morality. Mervyn3.0 -------------------------- > The immorality of the Ten Commandments. > by Christopher Hitchens > > http://slate.msn.com/id/2087621/ > > The row over the boulder-sized version of the > so-called "Ten Commandments," and as to whether they > should be exhibited in such massive shape on public > property, misses the opportunity to consider these > top-10 divine ordinances and their relationship to > original intent. Judge Roy Moore is clearly, as well > as a fool and a publicity-hound, a man who identifies > the Mount Sinai orders to Moses with a certain > interpretation of Protestantism. But we may ask > ourselves why any sect, however primitive, would want > to base itself on such vague pre-Christian desert > morality (assuming Moses to be pre-Christian). > > The first four of the commandments have little to do > with either law or morality, and the first three > suggest a terrific insecurity on the part of the > person supposedly issuing them. I am the lord thy god > and thou shalt have no other ... no graven images... > no taking of my name in vain: surely these could have > been compressed into a more general injunction to show > respect. The ensuing order to set aside a holy day is > scarcely a moral or ethical one, unless you assume > that other days are somehow profane. (The Rev. Ian > Paisley, I remember, used to refuse interviewers for > Sunday newspapers even after it was pointed out to him > that it's the Monday edition that is prepared on > Sunday.) Whereas a day of rest, as prefigured in the > opening passages of Genesis, is no more than organized > labor might have demanded, perhaps during the arduous > days of unpaid pyramid erection. Read the rest of this article at: http://slate.msn.com/id/2087621/
