Path: csiph.com!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!nntp.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: John Ames Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc,alt.usage.english Subject: Re: GNU Date: Thu, 19 Mar 2026 15:31:27 -0700 Organization: A place where nothing fits quite right Lines: 67 Message-ID: <20260319153127.000057e7@gmail.com> References: <10ojmjv$2ashr$1@dont-email.me> <10okvro$2qvnj$1@dont-email.me> <10p7bp4$1g2jr$1@dont-email.me> <10p8ukd$1vi0v$9@dont-email.me> <10p9ti1$2c71i$1@dont-email.me> <10pantb$2kk45$1@dont-email.me> <10pc94h$36i8h$1@dont-email.me> <20260317123742.0000521e@gmail.com> <10pcu8n$3edfg$1@dont-email.me> <10pdspd$3mv8s$7@dont-email.me> <20260318122434.d7774816b147fba94b0b850c@127.0.0.1> <10pe83m$3rg2l$1@dont-email.me> <10peq1l$2ghs$2@dont-email.me> <10pfaa1$8kkt$1@dont-email.me> <10pgp4s$mdso$1@dont-email.me> <20260319092124.00001662@gmail.com> <10phfr9$uq1s$2@dont-email.me> <20260319121429.00001ddf@gmail.com> <10phjn8$uq1s$6@dont-email.me> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Injection-Date: Thu, 19 Mar 2026 22:31:33 +0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="a3989cdae952ffcf50a026d331c4aa5e"; logging-data="1083651"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX19G6QFVn4lAL8llkJPdKHUkXO6h1eQyneY=" Cancel-Lock: sha1:tn3CbOm9eU5+DVEGb6O0+m/7Hdk= X-Newsreader: Claws Mail 4.3.0 (GTK 3.24.42; x86_64-w64-mingw32) Xref: csiph.com comp.os.linux.misc:83524 alt.usage.english:1140171 On Thu, 19 Mar 2026 19:44:40 +0000 The Natural Philosopher wrote: > Christian morality in this country has very little to do with quoting > scriptures and a lot more to do with understanding the actual > messages and moralities referred to. Okay, sure; but that doesn't make any more sense out of your writing off whichever parts of the "messages" you don't like as probably fake and/or not to be taken seriously. You're free to ignore anything you like, but you can't *also* pretend that your fan-edit of a thing is the same as the thing itself (or the same as the Council of Rome's or Luther's fan-edits, as the case may be.) If the teachings of Christ don't define "Christian morality," why call it that in the first place? Conversely, if they *do,* why are you dis- missing the plain meaning of said teachings and pretending that you're still holding to "Christian morality" in any meaningful way? (And also: if we're selecting from fan-edits, why *yours* and not any- one else's? What gives your "that part doesn't count" more weight than the selections of, say, the "liberal" denominations who don't see any conflict between "Christian morality" and embracing the LGBTQ+ crowd you rave about all the time? Clearly it's not down to anything in the *text.*) > I think it was Douglas Adams who summed it up as 'putting a guy to > death on a cross basically for saying wouldn't it be a better idea if > people were nicer to each other' Its a beuatiful story that > illustrates a principle. Adams was deliberately making a joke of it, because he understood perfectly well that, far from a "beautiful story that illustrates a principle," it'd be just another senseless tragedy in a world awash with them; even Paul understood *that* (Gal. 2:21.) But he wasn't trying to argue that the ramblings of a guy who died millennia ago for no particularly good reason and either lied about being God or imagined he *was* were something society *needs,* but not in any especially binding way that'd compel you or I to, like, actually *live* by the parts that don't suit our personal prejudices. Adams was much too reasonable and consistent to propose nonsense views like that. > Like it or not the secular Western world still espouses a humanistic > morality derived from basic Christian precepts. And it has its > issues, but it works. Clearly it doesn't. If we take your view of things for the sake of argument, then Europe, from a foundation of centuries of "Christian morality," has for decades been welcoming immigrants legal & otherwise under the assumption that it means what it says in Exodus 23:9 - "Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt." - and as a result is now overrun with intractably violent religious extremists from other parts of the world, who are in the process of destroying it; and peoples of European nations cannot bring themselves to put a stop to this out an an excess of Christian love and empathy. In this case, the disease stems from the root and "Christian morality" as a "secular religion" for the purposes of societal self-regulation must be considered an abject failure, since it results in its own self- destruction. And if this is true, then it makes no sense to hold it up as an ideal in the first place, and it ought to be done away with and replaced with something else.