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Am no big fan of organized religion, though it does accomplish some good things (and a lot of horrific ones too). But IMO, we still need an appreciation for spirituality and the "transcendant" in life, namely a sense of something larger than ourselves in the universe (call it God, the Divine, Nature, whatever). Although if we're not careful, "Science" can also quickly become its own "religion".
“Then I learned that all moral judgments are ‘value judgments,’ that all value judgments are subjective [it just depends on how you think about them], and that none can be proved to be either ‘right’ or ‘wrong’…
…I discovered that to become truly free, truly unfettered, I had to become truly uninhibited. And I quickly discovered that the greatest obstacle to my freedom, the greatest block and limitation to it, consists in the insupportable “value judgment that I was bound to respect the rights of others. I asked myself, who were these ‘others?’ Other human beings with human rights? Why is it more wrong to kill a human animal than any other animal, a pig or a sheep or a steer? Is your life more to you than a hog’s life to a hog? Why should I be willing to sacrifice my pleasure more for the one than for the other? Surely, you would not, in this age of scientific enlightenment, declare that God or nature has marked some pleasures as ‘moral’ or ‘good’ and others as ‘immoral’ or ‘bad’?
In any case, let me assure you, my dear young lady, that there is absolutely no comparison between the pleasure I might take in eating ham and the pleasure I anticipate in raping and murdering you. That is the honest conclusion to which my education has led me – after the most conscientious examination of my spontaneous and uninhibited self.” (Christian Research Journal, Vol 33, No 2, 2010, 32)
Atheist friend, what is your answer to this question:
On what moral grounds can you provide a response to Bundy?
It can give hope and help people endure their troubles - this is true today and especially true of early Christianity. The church can bring order and structure to society in times of chaos (collapse of Rome & The Dark Ages). It can give legitimacy to laws and codes of morality. Religion started medieval universities and schools, and was the driving force behind charity work and improving the human condition. I'm not religious but will give credit where credit is due.
Do you realize that the church was the cause of the Dark Ages?
I can't think of one good thing religion has contributed to mankind - the inquisition, slavery, twin towers - all in the name of religion.
Science, on the other hand, has contributed far more to mankind - vaccines, condoms, longer life expectancy, organ transplants ect.
Do you think people who believe in religion are of a lower intelligence?
Religion, specifically Judeo-Christianity was largely responsible for the elimination of slavery. Slavery was the norm in antiquity, even in enlightened, intellectually advanced Greece. The Exodus, the keystone of Judaism, was the only successful slave revolt in antiquity. The Jewish tenet that"'man was made in the image of God" was the seed that guaranteed the eventual demise of slavery. Slavery was eradicated from Christendom by about 1000 AD, and only reintroduced thru Arab slave traders in Africa in the 15th century. Then it was eventually eradicated from Chrstiandom once more by the 19th century.
Without Judiasm and Christianity I suspect that slavery would still be the norm. That's just a guess of course. BTW I am neither Christian nor Jewish.
Why do human beings have this moral compass and other animals don't?
Why are human beings able to create a symphony, and build a city like New York or Hong Kong, why can humans find cures for disease and other animals can't?
Why is it wrong for me to kill a person and take what I want from him the way a lion kills a buffalo?
Why can a man and a woman have a child and not a man and a man?
Why is planet earth fine tuned for life?
Why are we SO different than all the other animals?
If man is nothing but the random arrangement of molecules, what motivates you to care and to live honorably in the world?
Can you explain how personality could have ever evolved from the impersonal, or how order could have ever resulted from chaos?
-snip-
I don't need the fear of hell or the belief that I will get a big reward to motivate me to be kind to others. I have something called genuine love, empathy, and concern for my fellow man and I don't expect a reward for this.
A very ignorant comment. Nothing could be further from the truth. Christianity, the catholic church in particular basically made western civilization what it is today. It is a proven fact easy to find out about if you can read.
Exactly when did the Catholic Church exonerate Galileo because he believed that the earth revolves around the sun?
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