re: #44 Walter L. Newton

Are you claiming that much of the west’s secular moral values, as they evolved into a political and cultural setting, had no foundation in Judeo-Christian moral codes?

Sort of. I’m saying that the Christian model was taken from previous cultures that also influenced our modern ideas and because we have that common influence, it would be difficult to attribute a particular value exclusively to Christianity, which is what is implied in the whole ‘our morals are based on Christian values’ argument.

Claiming many values stem from a particular religiously based cultural heritage is a disingenuous attempt to minimize other influences through over simplification.

The question that needs to be asked, is where did Christianity get the ideas that eventually worked their way into our culture. Did Christianity develop those moral values or did those moral values, by trickling through Roman culture, develop Christianity?