why will you not answer the big question for christains..How many angles can dance on the end of a pin? Why do you refuse to acknowlegde this important topic?

Peter you state "It would seem that a secularised society could not fall back on what is understood to be a religious foundation for justice, i.e. that all are made in the image of God. But this conclusion has to assume that religious foundations are devoid of truth despite their long heritage and the fact that our justice system continues to rely on them."

Does it? I think not.

Think about this:
In the modern West, we’ve inherited two of the great intellectual revolutions our species has managed, the creation of logic and formal mathematics in ancient Greece, and the creation of experimental science in early modern Europe. Both of those revolutions are all about reality testing. Logic is a system for making sure that mental models make sense on their own terms, and don’t stray into fallacy or contradiction; experimental science is a system for checking some mental models, those that deal with the quantifiable behaviour of matter and energy, against the facts on the ground.

It remains true, though, that all the many methods of reality testing we’ve evolved down through the millennia, from the most basic integration of sense inputs hardwired into the human brain right on up to the subtleties of propositional logic and the experimental method, share one central flaw. None of them will work if the message is ignored.

I think this is where your problem lies, you still hold onto a belief system that most locial people ignore.

You just don't like the idea that people ignore you.

There's too much nonsense in this article to permit response to all of it, but it's pretty funny that God makes a covenant with Noah about protecting human life when he's just drowned most of it.

What are we to conclude from all of this, asks Peter?

That it's a load of old cobblers of course! What else can we make of fanciful religious claims that have not a shred of evidence to support anyone one of them.

That Peter keeps pushing his childish beliefs upon the long suffering crowd at OLO is bad enough but then we have the Singer constantly harping at us and telling ever more lies as well.

Then Graham is diligently pushing the Liberal wheelbarrow even though Abbott is about as popular as a rattlesnake at an Eskimo wedding and feminists are always attacking us men and trying to neuter us and intellectuals often present articles which try, without success, to show how clever they are.

Then we have the American apologists and the Six Day A Week Bikeriders...

Struth, it's enough to turn a man to drink.

Pass me the bottle, quick!

David G, be careful or Peter may put the mockers on you.

Then you may end up like someone described here: http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=15209

Then again it is Friday, have a couple for me to!

Peter Stiller <For in the passion narrative we find played out in a drama the collision between the truth and the lie. Contrary to Pilate we are bid to see the truth embodied in the actions of a man. Surely this is a fine foundation for our understanding of the things unseen, of what is true and just.It is this realization that makes it possible to believe that Christ not only stands for the truth but also is the truth.>

I don’t see the execution of Jesus in this way at all, Peter. Like priests, Imans, The Amish, the Pope, who like Jesus, set themselves up as holy men, even today they soon end up with thousands and even millions of followers.
The Jews were a conquered people under the Romans who were harsh and brutal and did not treat the Jews as equals but as slaves and servants. Of course, Jesus in the hopes of getting better treatment for his people taught that all men were equal and everyone should love each other. This was a direct challenge to the Roman authority over the Jews which is what it was intended to be. Jesus was in effect saying to the Romans we are equal to you and you should treat us better.

The Romans understood perfectly, that Jesus was developing a huge following amongst the Jews much like the popular Iman in a Muslim society can raise an army of men in the streets. The fact that Jesus had such sway over the Jewish people meant he was a charismatic leader, like for example,(Osama Bin Laden) who could inspire revolution if not dealt with.
The Romans could not risk an uprising by just grabbing him and executing him, so they cleverly used the jealousy of the other Jewish Priests to condemn him.
Don’t forget Jesus had turned over the money tables of the Jewish Priests. Money is a powerful motive to get rid of someone. Plus he was costing them money by stealing their followers The rest is history.