If Liberals Are Too Smart to Believe In a Deity, How Can They Believe Conservatives Are Evil? (border, ideologies)

[Mr. Joshua]

Originally Posted by burdell

Typing in define:evil on google returned (adj) : Profoundly immoral and malevolent

Neither one is dependent on the existence of a deity

Hey I'm just going by what years of CCD and Roman Catholicism taught me.

[djacques]

Originally Posted by Mr. Joshua

Well, what and where do the ideas of good and evil come from?

The same place the ideas of red and green come from--human experience.

[Fiyero]

Originally Posted by Mr. Joshua

Well, what and where do the ideas of good and evil come from?

Society and philosophy.

[Dane_in_LA]

Originally Posted by Mr. Joshua

But how can something be evil if there is not the counterweight of a benevolent God?

It's really not that hard to build a robust set of ethics even without a supernatural entity making up the rules. You should try it.

[burdell]

Originally Posted by Mr. Joshua

Hey I'm just going by what years of CCD and Roman Catholicism taught me.

They really taught you evil can only exist if a deity exists?

I musta missed that part of the indoctrination.

[Mr. Joshua]

Originally Posted by Fiyero

Society and philosophy.

I can see that good can come from pretty much any arena, I mean flowers can smell good without religion but nothing seems to be evil without the undercurrent of religion.

[Mr. Joshua]

Originally Posted by burdell

They really taught you evil can only exist if a deity exists?

I musta missed that part of the indoctrination.

Well it kinda goes with the territory of the Catholic Church doesn't it?

[Fiyero]

Originally Posted by Mr. Joshua

I can see that good can come from pretty much any arena, I mean flowers can smell good without religion but nothing seems to be evil without the undercurrent of religion.

Really? If everyone was allowed to murder anyone they wanted, society wouldn't exist very long. Society therefore deemed murder to be evil because it deprives other people the right to live and harms society as a whole.

[Mr. Joshua]

Originally Posted by Dane_in_LA

It's really not that hard to build a robust set of ethics even without a supernatural entity making up the rules. You should try it.

I'm not talking about how you live your life, I'm talking specifically about the word "Evil".

I'm fully aware of the fact that Jill thinks we are the spawn of Old Scratch but how do you view Republicans/conservatives?

[GregW]

The important part is "harms society as a whole" That is as good a definition as any.