[Kevin Curry]

Well, then he was an evolutionary success. I wonder how many students he inspired into their own evolutionary dead-ends with his fierce and outspoken atheism?

But that doesn't bother his defenders here nearly as much as the fact that he was high on socialim/Marxism.

But Marxism and atheism go together like tea and biscuits.

And I ask his deenders again, why do you mourn? Of what possible evolutonary value is there in mourning? Quit wasting your limited time and energy on fruitless endeavors. You have only so many years to satisfy the brainless, directionless, heartless god of natural selection. Do something productive.

[Wm Bach]

Do something productive.

I agree. People should go read Gould's books. They are company for a rainy weekend.

[Junior]

But Marxism and atheism go together like tea and biscuits.

Didn't Jesus and his Apostles practice a form of communism, holding all property in common, divesting themselves of most of their worldly possessions? Didn't Jesus preach against the accumulation of wealth in this life? One could make the claim that Jesus preached communism -- indeed an entire communist movement in Latin America was based upon just this supposition.

[Junior]

And I ask his deenders again, why do you mourn? Of what possible evolutonary value is there in mourning?

Like any other ceremony, mourning exists to cement the group together. Mourning is not for the dead but for the living. The survivors of the group understand that each individual is important enough to the group as a whole to merit such a waste of resources; this in turn strengthens the ties of the individual to the group and increases the chances of the group's survival.