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NeoNote — Biblical morality

Then I choose not to follow a Biblical morality.

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NeoNote — Religion & morality

There is nothing that prevents people from following religious law. But there is nothing that demands others follow those same religious laws.
— NeoWayland
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NeoNote — There is no "Judeo-Christian faith."

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

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NeoNote — Nature and the World are not cruel.

So does that mean that the Decalogue has no value?

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Monday roundup

Pelosi On Broward County: ‘There Is No Election Fraud,’ Just ‘An Honest Count Of The Vote’



Arizona Democrat's Lead Now 'Insurmountable'



Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe

How Florida elections work—or don’t

This is What Retail Investors Did with GE This Year as it Plunged



Google’s Highly Cited Scholar Wants a ‘Farewell to Free Speech’



Lhamon’s Confession: She Gamed The Narrative



God and Guns in the Synagogue



Understanding the Global Recession of 2019



Former Hillary Adviser: “Hillary will run again”



‘None of the above’ tops list of potential 2020 Dems, poll shows



Alabama Voters Pass Amendment to Display Ten Commandments at Public Schools

This won't end well. Why is it that certain monotheists define religious freedom as their religion above all others?

Should We Abolish the Electoral College?



Judicial Watch sues for records on overlooked House IT scandal


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NeoNote - Responding to another Bookworm rant

Okay, time number three. We've been through this twice before.

For something with no moral relativism, there's an awful lot or relative morality going on. Of course there's the Catholic Church mess going on in Pittsburg right now. Granted, that was priests breaking the laws of "God" and man. But there are plenty of other examples.

Child labor used to be not only allowed, but justified by people quoting the Bible. Women were denied property rights and the right to vote. Slavery was justified and encouraged before some good people decided that not only was it wrong but it should be abolished.

You cite the Decalogue, but number one on that list denies any other religion or faith system. Using that, at best non-Christians (okay, non-Abrahamics) exist only at the sufferance of their "betters," to be indulged as children and tolerated for their misunderstanding.

If there is one thing I wish I could literally pound into Christian heads, it's this: Christianity is not the source of all that is good and righteous in our society. Other cultures and other faiths have contributed heavily. It's amazing that I even have to mention this where one house of the national legislature is called the Senate and the other has a ceremonial fasces. Syncretism happens and we're better for it.

We're not measured by our faith, but how we treat others. There is this urge particularly among evangelical Christians to meddle in the lives of others. You yourself cite "the" Native American experience. It wasn't "the," different tribes and groups were treated differently. Usually that led to stealing land, women, and children. Not to mention Indian wars, relocation, and reservations. How is that higher morality? Yet the American treatment of "Indians" was usually justified by Bible quotes.

I could go on and on but I won't. The vice or virtue is in the individual, not the label. By pagan lights, monotheisms have their own sins which they seldom answer for.

Yet there is hope. The "Golden Rule" is the true keystone of Western civilization. It exists in many faiths and cultures. Arguably it is core of the best ethical civilizations. Applied correctly, it can do everything that your Judeo-Christian values can. And we won't be arguing over whose morality should be "in charge."
NeoNotes are the selected comments that I made on other boards, in email, or in response to articles where I could not respond directly.

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NeoNotes — Roy Moore and the Decalogue monument - updated

You don't demand that others submit to your religion. If I can object when the Islamists do it, if I can object when the climate change crowd does it, I can damn well object when a theocratic Republican passes it off as religious freedom and tells tales of his "oppression" because of his faith.

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Minority rights

I don't think there are minority rights. I believe we have human rights and that it's not a right unless the other guy has it too. Which other guy? All other humans. At least all other humans in our culture and our society.

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