But that is political, has nothing to do with the rest of Ayn Rand's more fundamental philosophy, and doesn't address the question of the purpose of this forum.

This isn't about competing sects warring over which is the "true" religion. Ayn Rand rejected all forms of the supernatural.

You are here by permission of the owner of the forum in accordance with its stated purpose, not by a "right" to Bible thumping anywhere you please. This isn't the place for it.

OK -- I just don't let others define my views. . kinda like an objectivist might. -- j
.

Christianity is fundamentally incompatible with Ayn Rand's philosophy., it doesn't "complement" it in a Chinese menu.

Defining "god" as what is not yet known has nothing to do with the "god" of religion. It isn't difficult to prove that there are things we don't know. When someone doesn't know something then either find out or do something else, but stop talking about that of which he is ignorant, let alone concocting a whole religion speculating about nothing in particular.

Nothing he writes makes any sense. His rambling nonsense is an example of the kind of "discussion" of religion that does not belong here at all. He's jerking people around to get attention his gibberish doesn't deserve.

He's wasting your time with endless evasive rambling.

To call everything that is not yet known "god" has nothing to do with the religious notion.

Einstein did not pursue his desire to understand out of faith, he was not looking for a single formula, and it is not doubtful that an explanation connecting different branches of physics will ever be found.

The notion of ethics as duties to be accepted by authority and meaning only relations with others is fundamentally wrong, contrary to the requirements of a rational mind and it's need for ethics, and would not make the world a wonderful place. It is killing the world.

See Ayn Rand's explanations of the source and nature of ethics in The Virtue of Selfishness and her essay "Causality versus Duty".

No, it's your fault. That is no explanation. Quoting and paraphrasing dogma from sacred text is not an explanation of anything, just more Biblical proselytizing which is not serious discussion and does not belong here.

Arguing with any kind of faith is futile and a destructive waste of time. Details of the sacred text don't matter. But it is useful and important to understand the history and the chain of ideas that brought the 21st century to the point of taking the 2000 year old mysticism of goat herders seriously. It started with the ancient mystery cults merged with Plotinus and the neo-Platonists, leading to the Church dogma that kept the west in the chains of the Dark and Middle Ages and blocking intellectual and therefore material progress for centuries until the Enlightenment thinkers broke the death grip. It has been very influential in the history of western philosophy, all of which must be understood to see how we got to where we are now, where it is headed, and why Ayn Rand's philosophy is so important in so many ways for the survival and prosperity of a civilized society.

Good Analysis, John! . I disagree, though -- when the DNA of the zygote
equals that of the human into which it will grow, I view it as a person.
if we take viability as a test, then many low-IQ folks would not be people. -- j
.

Exactly! . that is precisely the view which I have, and my favorite
"church" is the woods. . No intervening crap -- straight truth. -- j
.

He broke his tormentors psychologically. Taggart went over the edge.

Thank You, John. . I was just "fighting" for myself, and haven't been in
a situation like yours. . I do know that there was no bragging by my bully
the day after, at school. . he usually had bragged about the people
whom he had beat up, the day before. . he was just so confused
by the way he was treated. . too bad. -- j
.

A rational society of individualism cannot be defended by the a-philosophical libertarian arbitrary starting point and cannot be defended by an other worldly faith in the supernatural.

my hushpuppy shoes weren't weejuns, for example. -- j
.

Zen, I sincerely appreciate your life and your many strong contributions
here in the online gulch. . I intend to stick around and call myself objectivist
regardless of your opinion, though I do honor it as yours, and a legitimate
educated, seasoned and successful opinion at that.

I was luckier than you.

I grew up in a "nuclear family" of 4, with a mom and dad and a
younger sister. . we worked our asses off and did well, maintaining
the perspicacious lives of a family led by a child of the Depression, dad.

I have been through some bad things -- rape, theft, burglary, fire, the
death of a zygote of mine -- yet the assignment of the unknown to
a pile called faith or God has survived. . and the optimism for a slight
positive view of unknown others has survived ... 66 years.

may you, and we, continue for a long time here in the virtual gulch. -- j
.