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You seem to have lost track of ownership of your own arguments, to which I may have contributed through a need to focus on work for a few days. To recap, it is you who needs to defend the blind faith in government thesis against a long record of objection to feckless governance by the party and parties you nevertheless seem so much to admire.
I don't "need to do" anything, except marvel that anyone can have admiration for politicians. Or at least half of them, as you do.
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There were those who called for that. They were given the big **** by Jefferson, et al. The fact that you imagine things about the Declaration and its times and purposes does not make any of those things true. You once again let your biases rule your thinking. This is a poor strategy.
Almost as poor as referring to rights endowed by one's Creator by way of demonstrating one's robust secularism. But not quite.
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Secularism needs no proselytization. It is the logical default position. The burden of proof for fanstastic claims lies with those who would put forward fantastic claims. That burden has been spectacularly unmet, at least as far as this thread goes. Wiles and smiles will take you no miles...you'll need to do better than that. Much better, in fact...
There is nothing more fantastic than a person who denies that he cannot explain everything -- particularly in the face of life as it is actually lived. Speaking of spectacular omissions, give us a specific figure for how much you love your children and to what statistical degree you feel pain at the loss of loved ones. And, always avoiding veering into the mysterious bizarro-world of disinterested inspiration, explain why Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" is a more significant artistic achievement than the Beach Boys' "Smiley Smile."
You're free to believe whatever you want and to act on those beliefs within your own life. How totalitarian is that? It is of course the fundie whackjobs who seek to impose their mystical mumbo-jumbo on others. It is they who seek a despotic, autocratic, authoritarian, absolutist, dictatorship of the so-called Law of God over the mind of man. It is your side that seeks dominion and tyranny. And mine that defends freedom...
Standard commie propaganda trick - reverse the blame. Stalin was a pro
at it.
The inherent weakness of secularism is that it discards ethics and morality
in exchange for politics and power. How can you establish the brotherhood of man
while ignoring or denying the fatherhood of the spirit.
Without spirituality, scientific secularism can never coordinate it forces, harmonize
its divergent and rivalrous interests, races, and nationalisms. The dismal failure of
Marxist Russia is a perfect example.
The inherent weakness of secularism is that it discards ethics and morality
in exchange for politics and power. How can you establish the brotherhood of man
while ignoring or denying the fatherhood of the spirit.
Without spirituality, scientific secularism can never coordinate it forces, harmonize
its divergent and rivalrous interests, races, and nationalisms. The dismal failure of
Marxist Russia is a perfect example.
Claiming that secularism and ethics (or morality) are mutually exclusive is as intellectually questionable as it gets.
I think you do so at your own peril. The mumbo-jumbo is of course all garbage, but there is much in what has been recorded as the preaching and mission of Jesus of Nazareth that is worthwhile. Most of that is covered up by latter-day fundie Christians, but there is no need for the rest of us to be as ignorant of his actual ideals as they are.
The Christ-zombie I was referring to is Mr. Nonsense of this particular thread. Jesus would be appalled at most of his so-called followers, if he hadn't died and turned to dust over 2,000 years ago. If, of course, he ever existed. I have no problem with his "teachings"...like we both seem to agree, he appeared to be a pretty liberal guy.
Whaddya mean, at this point??? Jefferson was also a hemp farmer, and at various times and in various places, it has been illegal NOT to grow hemp in the US. The first known hemp crop in North America was planted in 1606. The Pilgrims first planted it in 1632. For the two millennia prior to the 20th century, some 90% of all ship's sails were made from hemp. Through 1850, hemp was America's third largest crop, and the hemp industry in toto was the largest in the world. Many of Rembrandt's best known works are painted on hemp canvas. The original copies of the Declaration of Independence were written on hemp paper. All of this has apparently gone completely undiscovered by some...
And we're supposed to believe that none of those people ever smoked the flowers, despite the FACT that it's been done for millennia. Even despite the fact that the Chinese used it medicinally (so did we until the first half of the 20th century) thousands of years ago. If only ignorance was physically painful.
Forgive the multiple posts.
Edit- I think the original Constitution was on hemp paper too (why wouldn't it be?) which makes the current criminality of cannabis supremely ironic in light of the whole "pursuit of happiness" thing.
Full disclosure: I'm currently (for years) not a smoker but I reserve the basic human right to use things "god" ostensibly put there for my use, whenever I feel like resuming.
The inherent weakness of secularism is that it discards ethics and morality
in exchange for politics and power. How can you establish the brotherhood of man
while ignoring or denying the fatherhood of the spirit.
Without spirituality, scientific secularism can never coordinate it forces, harmonize
its divergent and rivalrous interests, races, and nationalisms. The dismal failure of
Marxist Russia is a perfect example.
So a country needs religion to survive? I don't buy that.
So a country needs religion to survive? I don't buy that.
Got any great examples of any that have, and if so how is working for 'em ?
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