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"First, I wasn't aware that there is a 'libertarian ethics'... only a 'libertarian political philosophy'. I know that there is an objectivist ethics, but I didn't think there was a single libertarain moral philospohy." I don?t think I ever stated anything about a comprehensive "libertarian moral philosophy", I was just suggesting from what MD refers to as his tolerance of non-believers from his 'libertarian' ethics that moral choices of those tied to the libertarian political philosophy have had this influence their personal ethics to some degree. And I noted that it is interesting how it mirrors Christianity?s values. "Are you arguing that the threat of hell is useful in keeping the idiot masses in check, so that even if God doesn't exist, we should pretend he does as a form of control over stupid people?" I think that a small minority of people are rational and moral - they are the virtuous few of whom Socrates spoke. I am still not insisting that people can?t come to a rationally utilitarian moral perspective, but I don't believe it is anywhere nearly as common or likely to happen as intelligent atheists or agnostics would like to believe. In the larger society, I expect the rational ones are far more likely to embrace nihilism, existentialism and sociopathy. The virtuous few would remain statistically insignificant. When you encourage anti-religious based morality, the law of unintended consequences will quickly come into play. The 20th century?s many mortacracies (from the word Mortale: a deadly jump, or dangerous and crucial undertaking) are testament to the effects attempting to eliminate religion ? in the name of Darwinian science, a promised utopia, or whatever - has on the morality of individuals in a society. In Roman times, Seneca the Younger once wrote: "Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful." It is more than useful for a civilized society, though, it is a downright necessity. Even the great champions of reason accepted this bitter truth. Alvin Bernstein writes of Voltaire: "He regarded belief in God and in an afterlife of rewards and punishments as requisites of ethical behavior... Voltaire was convinced that the lower classes must fear God in order to be ethical. His religious outlook ... is a stepping-stone toward a full secular outlook in which moral judgments have nothing to do with religious and spiritual abstractions." Going on from Voltaire, it is precisely this reasoning that has led so many rational, godless men into destruction of one form or another, be it of themselves or others. So what point am I trying to make here? Libertarians don?t have to fear Christianity in pursuit of a Libertarian society, I think many of its beliefs, values and morals have influenced this brilliant political philosophy, and in my view it is an advantage, not a barrier, towards this goal. I don?t have that view of Islam though, so I think that when speaking of religion these vastly different belief systems be referred to separately. Just because there are those who appear to be trying to impose its moral teachings through government fiat - thinking of a certain minority political party full of Pentecostal 'elites' (using the term loosely) here - does not mean it is reflective of the rest of the faithful. That Pentecostal path is more akin to Pharisees, who their Teacher railed against for lecturing sinners on the Law while absolving themselves from sin in Roman Empire times.
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