Yeah M, of course I undermined my own argument.

Mind you, by doing so I was being absurd.

The things you have to do in order to fit in to a thread eh?

Glad that pete saw the argument from ridicule though. Noticing is a first step to questioning which is a first step to ..

oh never mind.

Of course I am of the opinion that capital punishment is barbaric and a hangover from less evolved times. The human evolution is far more advanced in some areas than others. I did note USA, and not quite tongue in cheek as I find support for capital punishment to be abhorrent. Conversely, USA had digital watches before us, (I wonder how Douglas Adams would have joined in such debates?)

But M, this debate is about how biblical nonsense can (if at all) fit in with reality, and evolution in particular. Thus (nice word that...) it can be and is often demonstrated that capital punishment is an excellent example of how humans evolve. A few hundred years ago, anything goes. Two hundred years ago, hung drawn & quartered was seen as barbaric, hundred and twenty years ago, public executions were beyond the pail. Public support for such crimes demonstrate how our moral compass evolves.

Also shows that morals and altruism have bugger all to do with metaphysical nonsense. Most pack animals show traits such as looking after others.

Underlying message? This is one hell of a long thread in which to debate reality versus mass deranged minds. I `m fascinated by it though, and only throw the odd "emperor has no clothes" in it in order to remind all that at the end of the day, Jack the Sailor started this thread with questioning allowing children to be brainwashed with utter bollocks in the name of fantasy.

I call it child abuse. Which of course runs the risk of drifting into last year's hobby horse on Mudcat, and stain on hitherto respected religious clubs.