[MD] Dawkins a Materialist (is watching?)

[ARLO J BENSINGER JR]

[Arlo previously]
I no more want a "politburo" running society than a "Taliban". But if I had to
choose... I'd go with intellect.

[Platt]
You prefer a politburo over the Founding Fathers Christian heritage? If figures.

[Arlo]
I prefer that in our government which is based in reason, and not on the dictate
of the Judeo-Christian "God" (or any particular "God"). Much of it is rooted in
Greek reason. Much of it is rooted in secular humanism. Much of it we learned
from Indian society. And those are the good parts. 

As for the near-deification the Right heaps on the "Founding Fathers", they were
just people who made some good decisions and some bad ones. I no more prefer my
life to be based on what Washington or Franklin "said" than on what Yahweh or
Jesus "said". We take the Good, scrap the bad, and move forward. 

[Platt]
Fairy tales to you, revelation and enlightenment to others.

[Arlo]
And as enlightenment, it should be a personal, mystic experience. Not a reason
to form laws to control other people. Reason can provide us with good
government, such as the governments of nearly all modern, western societies.

[Platt]
As for pandering to Christian ethics, no one here -- after several attempts --
has responded with a foundation for social ethics that differs significantly
from that passed down from generation to generation since the writing of the
Old Testament.

[Arlo]
Going back years they have. As far back as Mark Heyman there were lengthy
expositions of why secular humanism is a better foundation for social
governance than Occidental authority.

And let's not forget that this "Judeo-Christian morality" you argue for is so
butchered from the message of Christ as to pander to a Capistocracy that would
SHAME Jesus, it amounts to nothing more than selected passages that allow YOU
to tell others how to live with no sacrifice of your own. You use the Bible
exclusively and only when it allows you to manipulate the lives of others.

Let's look at the primary message of Christ. "Feed the hungry. Heal the sick.
Shelter the homeless." Why isn't this the basis for the Republican Party, the
Party that pretends to be Christian? Why do we wield the Bible to ban
"homosexual marriage", but allow divorce? (What God has joined...). Why do we
not outlaw businesses from operating on Sunday (Keep the Sabbath holy)? Are
these the Judeo-Christian ethics you want legislated?? Oh, I didn't think so.

[Platt]
Is Monty Python your source of serious philosophy?

[Arlo]
Satire, as Art, often reveals what literal words miss. So I repeat Python's most
excellent satire.

"Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of
government! Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not
from some farcical aquatic ceremony! ... You can't expect to wield supreme
executive power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you! ...  I mean,
if I went 'round, saying I was an emperor, just because some moistened bink had
lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!" (From Monty Python)