Good morning," said Deep Thought at last.

"Er... Good morning, O Deep Thought," said Loonquawl nervously, "do you have... er, that is..."

"An answer for you?" interrupted Deep Thought majestically. "Yes. I have."

The two men shivered with expectancy. Their waiting had not been in vain.

"There really is one?" breathed Phouchg.

"There really is one," confirmed Deep Thought.

"To Everything? To the great Question of Life, the Universe and Everything?"

"Yes."

Both of the men had been trained for this moment, their lives had been a preparation for it, they had been selected at birth as those who would witness the answer, but even so they found themselves gasping and squirming like excited children.

"And you're ready to give it to us?" urged Loonquawl.

"I am."

"Now?"

"Now," said Deep Thought.

They both licked their dry lips.

"Though I don't think," added Deep Thought, "that you're going to like it."

"Doesn't matter!" said Phouchg. "We must know it! Now!"

"Now?" inquired Deep Thought.

"Yes! Now..."

"Alright," said the computer and settled into silence again. The two men fidgeted. The tension was unbearable.

"You're really not going to like it," observed Deep Thought.

"Tell us!"

"Alright," said Deep Thought. "The Answer to the Great Question..."

"Yes...!"

"Of Life, the Universe and Everything..." said Deep Thought.

"Yes...!"

"Is..." said Deep Thought, and paused.

"Yes...!"

"Is..."

"Yes...!!!...?"

"Forty-two," said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.

The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Chapter 27

@ShaMan: Explain to me what your ethical philosophy of life.....In 25 words or less!

Live in the here and now. Treat others as you want to be treated. Leave the world better than you found it.

Now explain your Xtian "morality". Take as many words as you want. You'll need a lot to explain away the Crusades, witch hunts, the Westboro Baptist Church, pedophile priests, and all the other horrors inflicted on a suffering humanity in the name of your sky-fairy.

Atheism = good.
All religions = bad.
Reasoning = 42.

Don't cause suffering. Take responsibility for your own actions/decisions. Enjoy living. Savor the moment. Hold hands and hug when you can.

Extras: Pet an animal every day. Feed birds. Don't hold a grudge, but watch the bastards. Never trust a tory.

Treat people how you want to be treated. Forgive, but never forget.

@ "Morality and singing Kym-by-yah."

First of all, your thinking is backwards. If there were a magical being called God, couldn't he make a world where everyone was moral and singing Kum0by-yah? If he can not, he is not god. If he can, why didn't he do it.

Moral behavior that is dictated from a book, is not moral.. Behaving moral so you can get a reward (go to heaven / please God) or avoid a punishment (get sent to hell for eternity) is not moral. This is an "EXTERNAL" control. It has nothing at all to do with morals. The behavior may be moral but the person has no sense of morality at all.

So why are we not all singing Kum-by-yah? One of the main reasons is that we all have a different sense of what is moral. Morality has evolved with our ability to think about morality. The Bible, for example, tells us that slavery is okay. It tells us who and who can not be slaves. It tells us how to punish our slaves. It tells us how much to pay for a slave. And it tells us who we can leave our slaves to when we die. We have evolved beyond the bible and today most of us thing slavery is wrong and people should not own other people. We have evolved beyond Iron Age Logic.

People are social animals. We are social out of a necessity to survive. There were once 5 other species of humans but they have all become extinct. Scientists believe this extinction can be linked to the other species failure to bond.

The ability to bond was essential to our survival. Our ability to care for one another, work together, create a culture and share ideas.

A human being alone in the wild is little more than a walking hamburger. We do not have the speed of a cheetah, the armor of a rhino, the size of an elephant, the strength of a bear, the claws of a lion, the venom of snakes, the teeth of a crocodile, the climbing ability of a monkey, or the camouflage of insects. All we have is our ability to bond and our brains.

One essential element of bonding is "like minded thinking." As human beings come together in clans, they developed pecking orders. (Just like any other species on the planet.) We had to decide who did which jobs. Who eats first. Who cares for whom. Who owns what? Does might make right? Should we care for the sick and elderly? ) As minds develop we create belief systems and invent gods. As language evolves so does our understanding of the world around us and our sense of morality.

We evolved from clans to tribes to small communities, and eventually into cities, states, countries, empires and now we are moving towards a global community. At every phase of development different versions of morality are challenged. (Generally, the winners make the rules.) America has been very lucky. Imagine if it was the Muslims in America and the Americans in the Middle East. (I don't think there would be many Americans.)

We are not hanging about singing Kum-by-Yah because morality is a process. It is not something dictated to us by some magical being. It is not dictated to us by God, Allah, Buddha, Krishna, or any other magical make believe deity. We are not sitting about singing Kum-by=ya because people like you are still in disagreement with the Muslims, Other branches of the Christian faith, Shinto, Buddhism, or anyone like me who just does not buy into your narrow minded sense of morality where homosexuals, or anyone who does not believe in your version of morality should be sent to hell and burned forever for all eternity.

We are not singing Kum-by-yah, because we are still ignorant and the religions of the world are one of the most powerful forces in the world keeping us that way.!

Hey - Kum By Yah!