The Awesomest Sentence I Read Today

Ok, maybe I didn't actually read this... I listened to it on a podcast from Freethought Radio while working overnight. This is a cool little poem entitled Atheist, by Yip Harburg, writer of the popular songs "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?":
Poems are made by fools like me,
but only God can make a tree,
and only God, who makes the tree,
also makes the fools like me,
but only fools like me, you see,
can make a God who makes a tree...
He also has a great one on the weaknesses of the golden rule, called Do Unto Others:
Love thy neighbor as thyself...
Hide that motto on the shelf,
let it lie there, keep it idle,
especially if you're suicidal...
This great stuff comes from his book Rhymes for the Irreverent. I won't get mad if anyone wants to get me this for Christmas ;)
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3 comments:

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  2. what weaknesses could the Golden Rule have?

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  3. Philosophers such as Kant, for instance, have found that although they are devout Christians and followers of Jesus, the golden rule is ultimately a poor basis for morality because it is subjective, and can differ from one person to the next.

    If I'm a masochist at heart, then according to the golden rule I should behave as a sadist and inflict pain on others, with the hope they'll return the favor because that's how I'd like to be treated (and what you like or don't like is always a subjective thing).

    This is why Kant, at least, has favored reason as the objective basis of morality, even for God.

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