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David E · 12-08-2008, 01:48 AM

Regarding the bus ads that say we should all just be good, this person Tim Wildmon (who I never heard of) is saying that that only works as long as there is agreement as to what good is. And if you think about it... he's right.

Did you ever stop to think where your values come from? Most non-religious people will say something like "from my heart", "what I feel is right" or "from my concience". What they are not thinking about is that morality is learned, and that their sense of right and wrong has been formed by a culture whose values come from organized religion, a fact of history whether they are conscious of it or not. This has worked pretty well in modern times, with predictable results, as the major religions like Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism all share basic rules.

The problem is, the great majority of the time, people who do bad think they are doing good. A stark example: two Palestinians, a Muslim and a Christian, share the same government and economic circumstances. The Muslim can be recruited as a suicide bomber and blow up a bus filled with children he doesn't know, because he believes he is doing something good and will go to Heaven. The Christian believes he would go to Hell for the very same act. Same biology, same physical environment, but opposite ideology. (Whether this is a perversion of Islam or not is not relevant to my point).

So I don't trust people's "hearts" to lead them to do good; murderers from Jim Jones to Mao felt they had people's best interests at heart and sold their new, better ideologies as a replacement for the traditional religions that went before. And it seems that people do need and seek someone or something to guide them. So better it be a supernatural loving force than a corruptible human leader, or each corruptible person's own feelings.

Even though I am a non-religious person myself, I can't ignore that so much of the good in our society is based on Judeo-Christian values, and I have to agree with Voltaire who said:

"If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him."

12-08-2008, 01:48 AM	#94
David E Tethered Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 64	Regarding the bus ads that say we should all just be good, this person Tim Wildmon (who I never heard of) is saying that that only works as long as there is agreement as to what good is. And if you think about it... he's right. Did you ever stop to think where your values come from? Most non-religious people will say something like "from my heart", "what I feel is right" or "from my concience". What they are not thinking about is that morality is learned, and that their sense of right and wrong has been formed by a culture whose values come from organized religion, a fact of history whether they are conscious of it or not. This has worked pretty well in modern times, with predictable results, as the major religions like Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism all share basic rules. The problem is, the great majority of the time, people who do bad think they are doing good. A stark example: two Palestinians, a Muslim and a Christian, share the same government and economic circumstances. The Muslim can be recruited as a suicide bomber and blow up a bus filled with children he doesn't know, because he believes he is doing something good and will go to Heaven. The Christian believes he would go to Hell for the very same act. Same biology, same physical environment, but opposite ideology. (Whether this is a perversion of Islam or not is not relevant to my point). So I don't trust people's "hearts" to lead them to do good; murderers from Jim Jones to Mao felt they had people's best interests at heart and sold their new, better ideologies as a replacement for the traditional religions that went before. And it seems that people do need and seek someone or something to guide them. So better it be a supernatural loving force than a corruptible human leader, or each corruptible person's own feelings. Even though I am a non-religious person myself, I can't ignore that so much of the good in our society is based on Judeo-Christian values, and I have to agree with Voltaire who said: "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him." __________________ David E. The Best is the enemy of the Better.
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