Literary Discussions

Now PERHAPS Bryan D. has unwittingly put his finger on the reason for America's doom and decline, namely, the irrationality of introducing God into politics. We saw the Atheist Communist regime as our great enemy and so we reasoned that Theism and Capitalism were the opposite of Atheism and Communism and so we ADDED "in God we Trust" to our dollar bills around 1957 AND we added prayer to public schools and congress and we swear in our Presidents on a copy of the Bible, and swearing itself is an irrational superstition because what does it mean to SWEAR that you will tell the TRUTH so help you GOD. Does that mean that the Holy Spirit is going to whisper in your ear while you are testifying on the witness stand?  And what does it really mean to swear "or even solemnly affirm" that we will testify the truth the WHOLE truth and nothing BUT the truth "so help me God."  If  you swear me in and ask me how much is 2 plus 2 and I answer four then am I testifying THE TRUTH? But I am told that the full proof that 2+2 = four would contain over 250 steps and only someone like Bertrand Russel or Alfred North Whitehead would be able to demonstrate that truth and so therefore when I answer FOUR then I am just repeating hearsay.  What would make logical sense is for each witness to say "I understand that I testify under penalty of perjury if the court deems that I have intentionally lied or committed a lie of omission." Now I am always aware when I lie but I can never know that I am telling the truth. And if the court should deem that I have perjured myself then I shall pay the penalty even if it should be the case that the court is mistaken.  

A college student in Beijing told me that Communist China's leaders are all scientists and mathematicians and therefore they are more RATIONAL than lawyers like Obama. Bryan, would you be willing to agree that scientists must be more rational and perhaps smarter than lawyers and judges?

I mean if reason is GOOD for scientists and having any religion means LESS REASON and less rationality then by the same token atheism must be better for government since any hint of religion must ipso facto mean some level of irrationality.  Hence, G.W. Bush was irrational to the degree that he portrayed himself as a Christian and implemented "faith based" policies.  I shall post this for now and read some more and perhaps post more later. Thanks all for your participation in this thread as I enjoy wrestling with such discussions.