Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to Yeti's right

Moral codes of a community, such as those expressed by ' Midwestern Christians ' are not the cause of moral knowledge
Yeti — (archived)

But rather, are the result of moral knowledge.

Here is the crux of the issue- many people are fearful of my atheism- they ask me (even educated adults) 'but how do you know right from wrong'. I even know some Agnostics who raise their children in a Church so that they would 'Know right from wrong'.

But thats wrong, and moreover silly. Following the moral strictures set forward in any of the great religions of the world, with the possible exception of jianism, would land someone very promptly on death row (if, for example, one followed the finer points of Leviticus) or at least a federal Penetentiary.

If you look the world over, people typically install their moral code in their religion. Look at, say, the Islam practiced by Sufis and the Islam practiced by desert nomads!

But lets leave that aside, because there is something deeper than the limits and bounds of relative cultural norms. People have a natural innate moral sense that springs from empathy. Most socialized human beings can understand the universal commonality of the human experience. We all hurt when struck, we all cry when at our wits end, we all resent being torn down, we all cling to possessions- etc. We all experience pain and pleasure, in different ways and different degrees to most of the same stimuli.

We don't need g/God/s to understand suffering, every day is a lesson in suffering, or the joyful absence thereof, or the overcoming of it, or ... etc.

Our lives give us a map to ethical behavior, our cultures gives us roads to travel, reason gives us our compass for figuring shit out when we get lost... but the territory remains ultimately common for humanity. We don't need g/God/s to tell us whats right and wrong. True, some sociopaths will never learn, can never learn the common lessons of human existence. Do you think g/God/s and the myths therof stand in their way? Worse, does some of say the crazy stuff found in so many religions not perhaps encourage them?

So you smugly speak of humility, and the thugs of the godless sort. Well, for every godless thug I can name you a thousand religious thugs every bit as bad. For every secular society gone overboard in worshiping a man instead of a god, so to could I name a dozen religious societies who have done the same thing.

I'm glad that Christians taught you your moral lessons. Athiests taught me mine, and I have yet ever to witness christians being more moral on average than athiests, agnostics, deists, Hindus .... etc. In fact, I have to say that my subjective experience is that the most passionately moral people I know so far in my life have all been atheists.

Yeti

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