"Secular thinkers often complain that morality has been hijacked by religious fundamentalists. What they overlook is that it is often the reluctance of secular intellectuals themselves to develop and express moral ideas that helps create the narrow equation between religion and morality today. Neiman argues compellingly that religion is not the source of morality but is merely one of the forms through which people can voice their moral convictions. Philosophical ideals about virtue and good and evil were explored by thinkers such as Plato without the aid of the Bible. Moral reasoning emerges through human activity, and it does not depend on the authority of any religious text.
Indeed, it can be argued that, both logically and chronologically, moral ideals emerged prior to their codification in religious texts. From a humanist standpoint, people do not require a God or a priest to instruct them on what is good and evil. In an interesting reinterpretation of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, Neiman argues that Abraham’s questioning of God’s intentions derives from his moral courage. She puts forward a provocative thesis: that the real dividing line is not whether you believe or do not believe in God, but whether or not you uphold the principle that ‘there must be reasons for everything that happens, and that those reasons are up to us to find’. And it is precisely a lack of respect for the value of reason that creates so much moral confusion today."
Above is Scott McClellan. He is a cartoon. Here is actual footage of Scott, being a cartoon, at his former job:
Funny stuff. Whoo-hoo! Those were the days. They just don't make 'em like they used to. You know, Bugs Bunny and stuff. Now Bugs was wacky.
O.K., now this, my friends, is Karl Rove. He's a real person. (Notice the animated 3-D quality, as compared to that photo of Scott: it's a giveaway.) Below is Karl at work, delivering Nazi propaganda through an organ of the Bush Administration, clearly smearing Richard Armitage, who neveralready admitted he was the leaker in the Valerie Plame Case:
Well, well, well: according to Slate.com, writer Susan Neiman is "an American philosopher who runs the Einstein Forum in Potsdam, Germany, [who] worries that American progressives have drifted away from the values and intellectual traditions of the West, stretching from classical antiquity to the Enlightenment,.." which, if you ask me, would definitely explain the popularity of this guy:
And nonsense like homeopathy. Come on, Democrats, you don't want to be thought of like those Kenyans who burn witches, do you? Let me rephrase that:
"The cell phone and money in the pocket," Ijaoba said.
"You buy the girl a pair of gym shoes," Young said.
"A pair of jeans," Ijaoba said.
Got that, guys? American girls, raised in the feminist era, are giving up the nappy dugout for some gym shoes and a pair of jeans. Now - somebody - remind me why Oprah opened a school in Africa again? Oh yea, because of "empowering" scenes like this:
Yea, I've wondered about all that myself. But that was a long time ago. Now I want to be a foreigner! What can I say? I'm a macho guy and I don't fit in anymore. Hopefully the film, below, will explain everything:
"Secular thinkers often complain that morality has been hijacked by religious fundamentalists. What they overlook is that it is often the reluctance of secular intellectuals themselves to develop and express moral ideas that helps create the narrow equation between religion and morality today. Neiman argues compellingly that religion is not the source of morality but is merely one of the forms through which people can voice their moral convictions. Philosophical ideals about virtue and good and evil were explored by thinkers such as Plato without the aid of the Bible. Moral reasoning emerges through human activity, and it does not depend on the authority of any religious text.
