RSA Daily

For atheists, rationalists and secular humanists in Australia

Thursday, September 7, 2023

Good morning ,

Fighting for genuine secularism (freedom of thought, equality of worldviews, and separation of church and state) is a long, hard slog. But this morning, some wins along the way.

Many of you will have heard of Michael Shermer, publisher of the US-based Skeptic magazine and author of The Moral Arc.This morning, I begin a 10 part set of paragraphs in which Shermer proposes 10 moral 'commandments' from the perspective of 3,000 years of moral progress.

Thoughts?

Lead stories

This is a clear win for genuine secularism! Many thanks to those you who wrote to the ALP when we asked you to. I'd like to think our actions contributed to this sensible outcome.

"The Rationalist Society of Australia’s president, Meredith Doig, said the group had raised concerns with government ministers about “a number of publicly expressed views of other Christian chaplains that we believe most Australians would consider unacceptable and incompatible with providing nonjudgmental care”."

Letters to the Editor

If you write to me in response to articles or comments in RSA Daily, we'll publish your thoughts...

Michael Shermer's first moral principle

1. The Golden-Rule Principle: Behave toward others as you would desire that they behave toward you.

The golden rule is a derivative of the basic principle of exchange reciprocity and reciprocal altruism, and thus evolved in our Paleolithic ancestors as one of the primary moral sentiments. In this principle there are two moral agents: the moral doer and the moral receiver. A moral question arises when the moral doer is uncertain how the moral receiver will accept and respond to the action in question. In its essence this is what the golden rule is telling us to do. By asking yourself, “how would I feel if this were done unto me?” you are asking “how would others feel if I did it unto them?”

Other stories of interest

Spirited debate over religion in schools

In NSW, letter writers weigh in on mandatory Scripture classes...

It's Alice in Weirderland as Bullgoose parts the fog to bust Myth #24, the Mt Lindesay Rabbit

For a bit of fun...

What Medieval China Teaches Us about Overregulating Innovation

Do not resist technological innovation!

Got a comment on any of these stories? 

Write to me at president@rationalist.com.au

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