Sharklauncher

IQ?

Bill Maher:
What about the Ten Commandments? I mean, so many politicians talk about the Ten Commandments. Are they really the ten most--
Mark Pryor, United States Senator, Arkansas:
The Ten Suggestions? The Ten Recommendations?
BM:
But it's not really a wise list of ten. You know, the first four are all about just worshipping God and basically that he's a jealous god and he doesn't want you to have any other gods. The only two that are really laws are "Don't steal" and "Don't kill." Why is this the wisest group of ten? It doesn't include child abuse, it doesn't include, "Don't torture." It doesn't include a lot of things -- rape -- that I think, if we were making a list today, we would probably include.
MP:
Society is so different today, and our culture is so radically different today-
BM:
And that's what I'm thinking. We're in a different culture. Can you think of anything else we still cling to from the Bronze Age?
MP:
Well... basically murder is against the law in every country in the world.
BM:
But wouldn't we have come to that even without religion? Don't you think people would've gotten together and said, "You know what? Let's not slaughter each other and let's not take each other's stuff." There has been more killing in the name of thy God.
MP:
If you think sort of 'indigously' or just by our DNA, we somehow know that killing another person is wrong, I'm not sure that's the case.
BM:
Really? You need God to decide not to kill each other?
MP:
Well, you can look back at more primitive cultures and they were constantly at war.
BM:
We are now, among industrialized, modern nations, the most religious nation. A recent study found that, among thirty-two countries, more people in this country doubted Evolution than in any other country on that list, except I think it was Turkey.
MP:
In the US, we have freedom of religion.
BM:
I think most of the counties on that list do have freedom of religion.
MP:
Well, that's interesting.
BM:
Do you believe in Evolution?
MP:
Of course, I don't know. Clearly the scientific community's a little divided on the specifics of that and I understand--
BM:
I don't think they are. I think they pretty much agree.
MP:
I don't know how it all happened. I mean, I'm certainly willing to--
BM:
But it couldn't possibly have been Adam and Eve five-thousand years ago with the talking snake in the garden, could it?
MP:
It could've possibly been that
BM:
Come on. This is my problem. You're a senator. You are one of the very few people who are really running this country. It worries me that people are running my country that believe in a talking snake.
MP:
You don't have to pass an IQ test to be in the Senate, though.

brooklynmutt:

Letting Science Inform Morality

While science is indelibly distinct from the field of ethics, Richard Dawkins believes that there are a number of ways in which it could greatly benefit our ability to understand and repair the worlds suffering.

RichardDawkins

There are many reasons why I enjoy listening to Dawkins. This just adds to that list.