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It doesn't matter? really? well where does a persons' moral compass come from?
Satan?...lol
Look Ponch, you are coming off as a fool! The moral compass comes from their parents. You think a 2, 4, 8 or 10 year old is learning it from church? I don't think so.
Look at people like Bachman, Newt, Perry, Santorum etc. These people like to portray themselves as religious and moral when they are actually the most vile bags of liquid crap you can imagine. I don't want my kids learning anything from these types of freaks.
The same place the Buddhist, Taoist, Shinto, Native American, or Australian Aborigines get the basis of their moral behavior. .
And most of us call that, GOD.
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Moral behavior is how societies exist and covers a LOT more that religion. The implication you make is that morality can only come from Christian churches. Yet, good morals exist in India, Japan, Australia, and among Native American tribes, and has existed since before any of these civilizations had heard of European religions.
And the implication I'm making is that morality comes from God. It's how he instructed us to co-exist when he created us. If it were not so we would be savages running amuck 24/7 and there would be no such thing as Civilization.
Morality is the foundation of mankinds progress. doubt it not.
And the implication I'm making is that morality comes from God.
It probably works that way for many, who wouldn't be moral if they didn't have something to fear. Not that I see them being moral anyway... just scared (and how they think of themselves).
Name any of the Principles this country was founded on and I'll tell you if they were Christian principles or not. that's how you find out.
1. Life. A christian principle
2. Liberty. another christian principle
3. The pursuit of Happiness. a third christian principle.
Now if the country was founded upon "Do as thou wilt shall be the whole of the law" then YOU might have an arugment. but as it stands so far, I win.
toodles.
These are also principles rooted in a variety of different cultures, with multitudes of religious and secular backgrounds much older than Christianity and are not exclusive to Christianity alone.
One could also argue that Christianity does not value any of these so-called "Christian Principles" either. Christianity, in its 2000 year history, has shown a blatant disregard for the life of others. It has killed, massacred, and defiled the lives of thousands of people with reckless abandon and uses a maniacal, sinister, twisted, and ferocious deity hellbent on blood curdling violence against his own creations - even his own "son" as a focal point of worship. Even in this day and age, major Christian organizations like the Catholic Church have leaders being tried for genocidal massacres in Africa; not to mention the organized rape and torture of innocent children by priests.
The restrictions Christianity has imposed on individual liberty in the past 2000 years, and seeks to invoke amongst people in the modern age bring the concept of "liberty" as being a Christian principle into serious jeopardy as well. The entire totalitarian and dictatorial nature of the Christian God is enough to make one realize that Christianity is rooted in excessive restriction of liberty. To think that I could be convicted of thought crime for whether I believe in the Christian deity, or that I am being watched and monitored for everything I say or do only to be judged later has severe convictions of an entirely Orwellian State. As well, I should point out that with the Ten Commandments, the first four are nothing more than worshiping the "Dear Leader" of the celestial tyranny. And what happens when I refuse to worship or acknowledge the Christian God? I end up in this interminably wretched place called "Hell" - kind of like in Soviet Russia when people were sent to the "Gulags."
With severe restrictions of liberty and the blatant disregard for life at stake, one has to then wonder how much happiness, or the pursuit thereof, is allowed within Christianity. Surely, if we all join hands on Sunday and worship as one giant mass of mindless, idolizing idiots throwing our praises on the Christian deity like he's the North Korean leader then, sure, we might call that happiness. But, it's a manufactured happiness - not one that comes from having the real things in life like true life and liberty.
Still, people have the witless gumption to accuse their backwards, goat-herding religion of the Bronze Age of being the centerpiece for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Much more, they consider these to be solely Christian principles when one only has to look at the Dark Ages, the onset and byproduct of the Protestant Reformation, and modern day megachurches to realize that these mindless zealots worshiping the praises of an insane character of violence and mayhem are against every principle of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
It probably works that way for many, who wouldn't be moral if they didn't have something to fear. Not that I see them being moral anyway... just scared (and how they think of themselves).
Where do you think our morals and ethics come from, government?
"God wants it so" isn't an explanation, it's a stop sign for further thinking. Back when, most people were quite sure that one or more Deities directed the changing of the seasons to provide for them. Who needs axial tilt when "Goddidit!" is just as explanatory?
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And the implication I'm making is that morality comes from God.
How did you arrive at that conclusion? It seems to assume at least that :
God exists
He chose to imbue humanity with morals
I'm not sure either point has been demonstrated...
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It's how he instructed us to co-exist when he created us. If it were not so we would be savages running amuck 24/7 and there would be no such thing as Civilization.
You don't need morality for that, robust ethics will do just fine. And ethics is as much a survival technique as, say, knowledge of fire. If you don't build strong bonds between members of your tribe, you'll lose every fight and your tribe dies. If you don't take care of the weak members - women and children in particular - you'll be outnumbered and the tribe dies. If you don't come up with rules for possessions and resource sharing both, the strongest men will grab whatever they want, then get their heads bashed in with a rock when they sleep. And the tribe dies.
We have a bunch of anthropological imperatives known as "instincts", and a good bunch of those form the foundation of just about every ethos you can mention.
If you want to insist there's a Deity in the mix, I think it's on you to provide evidence.
It probably works that way for many, who wouldn't be moral if they didn't have something to fear. Not that I see them being moral anyway... just scared (and how they think of themselves).
Your opinion. fair enough. Now pass me a brew. all this religious talk is making me thirsty.
"God wants it so" isn't an explanation, it's a stop sign for further thinking. Back when, most people were quite sure that one or more Deities directed the changing of the seasons to provide for them. Who needs axial tilt when "Goddidit!" is just as explanatory?
How did you arrive at that conclusion? It seems to assume at least that :
God exists
He chose to imbue humanity with morals
I'm not sure either point has been demonstrated...
You don't need morality for that, robust ethics will do just fine. And ethics is as much a survival technique as, say, knowledge of fire. If you don't build strong bonds between members of your tribe, you'll lose every fight and your tribe dies. If you don't take care of the weak members - women and children in particular - you'll be outnumbered and the tribe dies. If you don't come up with rules for possessions and resource sharing both, the strongest men will grab whatever they want, then get their heads bashed in with a rock when they sleep. And the tribe dies.
We have a bunch of anthropological imperatives known as "instincts", and a good bunch of those form the foundation of just about every ethos you can mention.
If you want to insist there's a Deity in the mix, I think it's on you to provide evidence.
Ok, but after all that, if people are running all around in anarchy, killing at will like the natural born killers movie, you can't enjoy any of the ambitions you may have. Morality keeps us sane in society so we can enjoy life.. and morality comes from God imo.
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Not that I see them being moral anyway... just scared (and how they think of themselves). 
