Gay couples to be paid more to offset higher tax

That's still the Greeks.

 

Nope.

The Romans brought Christianity to the Europe. That led to it coming to America.

Christianity has influenced our society, and certainly our values, more than the Greeks.

I should also note, the Greeks weren't atheists.

 

Horseshit.

Plato's Republic has more to do with American ethics and values -- not to mention our society and our laws -- than anything else, and it's not close.

 

America was built on Christianity and Capitalism.

The earliest arrivals were here to make a buck or to worship God without interference.

They weren't dreaming of Plato. Had likely never heard of him.

But, they all knew of the Bible and of Jesus.

 

You're describing yourself, I have no doubt. But you aren't accurately describing this country.

We live in a democratic republic. I'll leave you to figure out where both those ideas -- democracy and the republic -- originated.

 

I've described America from it's discovery.

Our Constitution was written a full 300 years after the discovery of America. Plymouth was founded more than 150 years before the Constitution was written. (And 150 years after New Amsterdam was founded.)

The values and morality that shaped America had already been formed before anybody gave a thought to Plato.

 

Really, now?

And they took such root that the Constitution became a document concerned with creating a democratic Republic with a system of courts to assure justice under the law -- there's that pesky Plato again -- and didn't mention Christianity or capitalism. Weak tea, that.

By the way, can you tell me more about the "discovery" of America?

 

The best part of this is YankeeFan trying to argue that morality can't happen without Christianity without actually saying morality can't happen without Christianity.

Nice to notice that he has dumped the Judeo part of it. Never mind how much of the Christian idea of morality came from the Old Testament.

 

My God, what did college do to you?

You object to the term "discovery" as applied to America? While certainly realizing there were people here, has that term become too PC to use?

The Constitution is a remarkable document. It's shaped by the times and by the people who wrote it.

At another time & place it would have been very different. We're quite lucky it was written when it was.

But your attempts to diminish the influence of Christianity are absurd.

Do you think your parents and grandparents gave more thought to Plato or to God? What about the folks in the community where you were raised?

Was your kindergarden teacher more influenced by the Bible or by Plato's Republic?

Yes, Greek Democracy was a guide for our Founding Fathers. (Is that term OK?) It shaped our government.

Our government is not the source of our values or morality.

 

G-d, oop is at it again.

 

"Mark" dropped the Judeo out of it.

And, morality certainly can happen without Christianity.

But American morality was shaped by Judeo-Christian values. It's not debatable.

Now, show me an atheistic society where morality & social justice thrived.

 

It's an interesting debate because there's elements of both in our system.
While democracy and republic might have its roots in Greece, ours came about based on an idea of natural laws that come from a -- for lack of a better term -- higher power, than the rulers, or the polis. Not a secular ideal. Our whole revolution was based around this.
And you can make the argument that our cultural individualism has its roots in Judeo-Christianity (all people = god's creature = has worth). Plato was never a champion of the individual (your worth was basically, defined by which of three categories you belonged in and was equal to but not greater than the worth of that category.)
Our law, you could argue, started with Greco beginnings, evolved through church influence, evolved under the British, then came to America. Depending on when you want to start the timeline, you can't divorce either from our current system.
What weight you give the various evolution along the way matters for this discussion -- which makes it a darn interesting one.