Joe: "But in most situations of moral choice, people of good will will agree, and will usually choose the same thing."

Bill: Hmmm, Joe... isn't that a way of defining people who do "choose the same thing" that we approve of as people of good will"? ;>)

Bill, I look on "people of good will" as people who have a reasonable amount of concern for other people. I think most people are "people of good will." For the most part, they won't hurt other people, or steal from them, or do other things to cause others harm. And I don't think they do it because of fear of punishment.


Joe: ...and "I think that perhaps there is no "free will" in most situations;.."

Bill: That is certainly one way to look at possibilities... was it freely chosen? ;>)

Seriously, I don't think free will can be so easily relegated to just odd moments.

Maybe I didn't explain myself clearly enough. I think that most of our actions are automatic, or semi-automatic. We don't have time to think deeply about how we will respond to a particular situation. But I think we DO have times when we can reflect and decide freely how we will respond to situations in the future. As I said, bastards choose to be bastards...and "people of good will" choose to be the way they are.

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Steve Shaw hasn't said anything reasonable for quite a while, so I don't think I'll take the time to respond to his blathering....

But Steve, just to assure you, I also "don't respect human sacrifices, the brutality of Moses that somehow manages to get him a bye, inquisitions, torture, stonings, antisemitism, the exclusion of women, circumcision, waging imperialistic wars and quite a few other religious traditions that I won't go on to list." Why in the world would you imply that I would respect any of these atrocities? You're blathering, Steve, so your comments are not worthy of response.

Can't say I have much to say in response to Pete, either. To me, plate tectonics just makes sense - as does evolution. Here in California, it's very easy to see the action of plate tectonics along the San Andreas Fault. Just about twenty feet to the west of the San Juan Bautista Mission, the ground drops off dramatically - that's the San Andreas Fault. Other missions were destroyed by earthquake and destroyed. It makes me wonder why Junipero Serra and the Franciscan padres built their missions along the Fault - almost all of them are in constant danger of destruction.

-Joe-