New post for a new year

Welcome to a new year at Culture for All, and today, I bring a post from an old favorite, Capitalism Magazine. My article is about morality without religion. In the article, Peter Schwartz of the Ayn Rand Institute discusses the so-called culture war and dismisses both factions, the dogmatic right and the relativistic left. Also, Schwartz goes on to show that religion is not necessary for moral values, and he's right. Religion is a force that can be both good and bad, just like anything. In Judaism, there are three different terms used to describe a synagogue, depending on the movement. The Orthodx use shul, a Yiddish word for school, which emphasizes education. This can be good, like my Catholic education (and religion class was an easy A, which boosted my GPA :)), or it can be bad like a fundamentalist indoctrination camp. Conservatives use the word synagogue, a Greek word for assembly, which shows a social function, and certain non-faith churches do have a good social structure, like a club or fraternity, as well as religion-based networks, which can be both good or bad, depending on how the network is used. The final word used is Temple, mainly be the Reform movement, which is a reference to worship. Many people have a spiritual need that is fulfilled by this, making it a good thing, except when worship is used to promote hate or intolerance, like Orange Man's Day, or a demagogue preacher driving worshippers into a hate-filled frenzy. Ok, Schwartz doesn't evaluate positives and negatives of religion, as that is my view being discussed above. He does explain how the relativists have made themselves the public face of secularism, which is a huge insult to most of the good readers and posters on this blog, and that many regular folks are repulsed by this extreme and wind up preferring the other extreme of religious extremism, because it is red meat: tough, spoiled red meat, but red meat, nonetheless. And the philosophy that Schwartz supports is Objectivism, which can serve the same positive functions of a religion. Education is key, because a philosophy of individualism supports well-informed thought, and independent study. Even a religious person with an open mind can heavily benefit from studying objectivism, because nothing should be accepted without question or opposed without research and knowing just what you are opposing and why. Also, community is available with all kinds of objectivist networks and dating sites, and back in more ancient times, pen pals. As for worship, one could make some cheap shot about worshipping Ayn Rand, but an objectivist shouldn't claim spiritual needs, so this shouldn't be a needed function. On an unrelated note, I'l add resolutions on the tenth, because most resolutions are abandoned by then :)