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Originally Posted by iamthewalrus109
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a general spirtuality engenders compassion,
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I've seen no evidence of this.
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In addition western secular law is based on religious teachings, laws, and philosophy. Without it there would have been no secular law as we know it.
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That's insane. There simply is no way to support the concept that without religion there would be anarchy. I even will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you would not start murdering people if you lost your faith - likewise, even in the absence of religion, murder would remain illegal.
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Without the concept of inherent rights there would be no United States, or great modern republics to speak of. Rights given by man, can be taken away by man, it's a simple as that.
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The exercise of
all rights can be abridged by man, no matter where you claim the rights came from. Hopefully, other men will attempt to prevent the abridgement of those rights, but there are no divine guarantees of that. In the end, what we call inalienable rights are rights that we do not believe the government is ever justified in abridging. If the government disagrees, it is up to the people to stop it.
In fact, if religious people believe the government has a religious basis, they will be less inclined, not more inclined, to dispute any abridgement of rights, as is evident under kings and George W Bush.
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What is to guide government in the future without a higher order. Government can't guide itself, governments then would become a religion un to itself.
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Only if they are considered to be infalible. Governments should be secular and suspect. When a government gains a sheen of divine basis, that discourages suspicion.
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Government must be steered by something other than itself.
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It must be steered by compassion and the people. Not all of us require God's orders in order to be compassionate, and I suspect that even most people who believe that morality comes from God would have still been moral if raised as atheists.
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If not than the federal government should stop being in the business of tax collection and intrusion into the lives of the inhabitants of this continent and serve itself.
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Well, that's a non-sequitur. Government isn't a corporation, it is the mechanism to regulate the smooth operation of society.
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Government for government's sake is self-serving and illogical.
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True. Government isn't for government's sake, it is for the sake of doing things collectively that we can't do individually.