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Showing content with the highest reputation on 06/17/13 in all areas

  1. When do the games stop and the real behavior start?
    1 point
  2. OK, we can ditch the epistemological argument - I get were you are coming from but I do want to point out that is the reason I was saying that is because it demonstrates the systems are incompatible. Socially, I'd say the systems can be compatible in the context of America today if two things stay consistent: 1. We have a common enemy, and that is the progressive movement. 2. Religion is "Westernized" for lack of a better term as Augustine's influence declined pre-Enlightenment. American's have ala carte style discarded religious teaching when they were incompatible with reason and living. Thus, the Deism that was popular with the founding fathers. To the extent that exists there is compatibility since reason is still the guiding force of thinking and a common ground to interact. The issue here is what would happen if the Progressive Movement losses the culture war and recedes into a minority influence. Objectivism and Religion would cease having the common enemy and policy would then have to be determined by either reason or the dictates of a Book based on faith. 19th Century Religion could do it since the trend was toward reason. Today's trend is less positive as religion today is increasingly accepting the same style of thinking of the progressives, and the Augustine influence is returning and in come cases alarmingly so (Bachman, Westboro, etc.) And while they are admittedly extreme cases they are also influential cases and the question is when progressive thinking recedes will reason suddenly insert itself or will people switch to a different philosophy that has enough similarities to progressivism. The lack of reason wholesale in education today tells me that if the progressive movement recedes another non-reason movement will take it's place. Medieval styled religion is similar enough to progressivism, just substitute God for society as the justification for the "public good" and you can see how that would not be compatible with Objectivism. So I guess my answer is that yes, they are compatible as along as religion is similar to the one used by our Founding Fathers. Considering how quickly modern Christians are trying to rewrite the ideas of those men as a product of faith and not reason, color me skeptical of the trend however.
    1 point
  3. You mean, someone who rubs your neck and is polite enough to consider your preference? Nah.
    1 point
  4. If I had to choose, I'd take that other guy at the restaurant every time over somebody following what Kevin says.
    1 point
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