P.S. No religion, neither Christianity nor other, introduced morality. Before any religion humans had to establish rules of conduct in order to keep from killing each other. Morality and ethics came BEFORE any religion.

Anyone who has read anything of reason knows the men who fashioned the Constitution DELIBERATELY omitted any mention of God in order to keep religion and government SEPARATED. And Christianity was beginning to form in just a few years after the death of the man called Jesus. It was only in 325 A.D. that the emperor Constantine ruled that Christianity was the official religion of the Roman Empire. It was only in 381 at the Council of Constantinople that the so-called holy spirit was added. Mithraism was a close contender in the competition for Rome's selection. There was and is no mention of a Trinity in the Bible either.

Trash talk from a profiteer.

Knowing the causes for which Helen Keller dedicated her llife and the swinish treatment she received gives added meaning to her statement. Her courage and brilliance in fighting for the blind and the powerless, for rights of women, for suffrage, for better workiing conditions and pay for women prove the conclusions of the last two sentences.

A small gang of super-religious fanatics makes our intelligence(?) agencies as obviously inept as they are. Or it wouldn't be surprising if the 9-11 attacks were anticipated and allowed in order to create the kind of ignorant emotions Goering describes. Instead of an international police effort to catch the criminals, our empire building leaders were able to start yet another war. George Orwell explained it all in "1984." With our 800 to 1000 military bases in over 100 countries it is certain we shall have perpetual war from this time on. War makes it easy for the tiny few at the top to take everything away from the people. Why has this not been recognized?? Does anyone really think Bush, Rumsfeld and Cheney are any more humanitarian than the Nazis were?

A good quote from a good Universalist minister.

One of the brightest and best minds of any time.

Amen.

A quote meaning little but appealing to a vaiety of opinions.

Phelps' "ignorance cover(s) the whole earth like a blanket and there (is) hardly a hole in it anywhere."

Nothing but sick excuses for what is really hate, selfishness and ignorance.

I would bet that all those who can actually swallow the thinking (?) of Cal Thomas also call themselves 'Christian." If so, what gross cognitive dissonance.

Such statements as these without further elaboration are a waste of time. Another great man of antiquity, an Athenian named Solon literally saved the life of his city from revolution by devaluating its currency, reducing all personal debts (although he himself was a creditor), ending imprisonment for debt, and instituting a graduated income tax which made the rich pay at a rate twelve times that of the poor. As a result Athens became stronger and more democratic.

It's not the proliferation of laws that is the problem, but the intent. Our drug laws are as seriously poor as the really stupid laws barring hemp use. But what would we do if we didn't have laws to enforce food and drug safety, minimum wages, safe working conditions, etc, etc?? Rely on the forces of capitalism? Ha!

Law may not make humans feel and act more justly in countries where law has at least exercised some measure of control as has the United States and we all benefit greatly from that, but we should be aware that there will always be those who violate the law for personal gain. Sadly, in the U.S., these violators have gained control of the Supreme Court and our laws are being diminished on a regular basis. And now that these people control all three branches of government and the mainstream media we should be cognizant of the danger. We may soon have very unjust laws.

Some people have difficulty giving any statement logical thought if anything in it can be construed to involve economic or political ideas for their solidified prejudice against concerns of the welfare of the people.

Thank you, Waffler, for another sensible evaluation.

There is some truth in this statement but it can't stand alone without qualification.

It would help to know something about Emma Goldman. She grew up in the era when poor people in cities worked in sweatshops and in dangerous environments, efforts to make even a barely liveable wage were put down by ruthless police, and people who spoke out about the unbearable conditions were arrested, often beaten, and even deported as she was. The law for those brave and articulate who spoke out in that tlme had reason to feel as she did. While there must be law and authority it is too often used to instigate wars for profit (our own lawmakers have begun what will now be perpetual war) and has never justified capital punishment.

Waffler is right as usual.

I think there's not a chance in hell Lee made this statement. It is completely unlike his writing style and totally foreign to everything he wrote after his surrender.

Waffler is right as usual.

whose mililtia? where the militia? the public is going to overawe our hundreds of thousand servicemen and women??? what century are you living in?

A statement of any kind is not responsible for the person who makes it. It is prejudice and lack of good sense to judge a statement by the person making it. Truth can stand alone regardless of the speaker. And disregarding this quotation, Justice Black was one of the best.

Income and wealth have long been "redistributed" in this country. The rich and powerful accomplished this by stealing all the gain from the increase in productivity over the last 50 years. Robin Hood's ass. It's been rob the poor, reward the rich throughout history. And it's been made possible through the ignorance and acceptance of complete brainwashing by the majority of responders such as are represented here.