Do you believe a person can be ethical and not be religious?
Do you believe a person can be ethical and not be religious?
Yes.
__________________
After silence, that which comes closest to expressing the inexpressible is music.
-Aldous Huxley
Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.
-W. A. Mozart
Non scholae, sed vitae discimus.
Not school, but life teaches us.
How do you define "ethical"?
Anybody can be anything and act anyway they want. The question is whether their behaviour is rational, reasonable, or foundationally correct.
“As Kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame . . .”
Why disqualify the rush? I'm tabled. I'm tabled.
Ethical based on what? Aztecs believed in human sacrifice. I'm sure by their standards the average Aztec was ethical.
LET THERE BE LIGHT
"Love follows knowledge." – St. Catherine of Siena
My literature blog: http://ashesfromburntroses.blogspot.com/
My philosophy professor phrased this question as "Can atheists have moral values?"
My reply: "You're not serious?"
A lot of yelling followed.
What is the use of a violent kind of delightfulness if there is no pleasure in not getting tired of it.
- Gertrude Stein
A washerwoman with her basket; a rook; a red-hot poker; th purples and grey-greens of flowers: some common feeling which held the whole together.
- Virginia Woolf
Did any of the yelling answer the question? The question may indeed be absurd - but sometimes questions that seem absurd seem so because the basis of the question (or underlying assumptions implicit in the question) was not understood by the listener (or properly articulated by the questioner).
"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." - C.S. Lewis
IYes. I meet them all the time and work with several people who integrity and moral values put my personal life to shame. For me though I do not practice religion I try to live within it as a relationship with my God (whoi I believe to be the God as revealed in the Bible) thru the Lord Christ. I hope this sense because the more I read this I'll admit I'm not sure what context your question is related too either.
Rich
I don't really see any correlation between the two.Originally Posted by Twisted_Sister
Well, Subby I think what the question alludes to is whether witout a fixed codified set of morals, and codified by devine rule, then how does one avoid relativism and evolving ethics to convenience. Yes, I believe that atheists can be ethical, but if everyone were atheists then over time one would be quite shocked as to what was moral.
LET THERE BE LIGHT
"Love follows knowledge." – St. Catherine of Siena
My literature blog: http://ashesfromburntroses.blogspot.com/
No. His position is what basis to atheists have for morality? My position is that his position is irrelivant, because we obviously do behave morally in general, or at least no less morally than theists. His counterpoint is that there is a relationship between Charles Darwin's theories and Hitler, and therefore that a materialistic set of beliefs leads to bad things. My response was that neither of those men were materialists. It somewhat degenerated from there.
What evidence do you have of that?
What is the use of a violent kind of delightfulness if there is no pleasure in not getting tired of it.
- Gertrude Stein
A washerwoman with her basket; a rook; a red-hot poker; th purples and grey-greens of flowers: some common feeling which held the whole together.
- Virginia Woolf
I might be compelled to play a mental game by taking the “not” out of the original question:
“Do you believe a person can be ethical and be religious?”
I mean, if you’re trying to live your life ethically and basing your moral code on something that is laid out in the <your book here> (Bible, Torah, Koran, Book of Mormon, etc) and if you break that code – you go to Hell; well then, you are only acting in your own best self interest.
Uhhhh...
Well, I guess I don't know a society that is completely atheist. Even the countries that might have majority atheists are probably only a generation from not being so. So my reasoning must be extrapolated from the social mores as the evolve. Here's something that struck me over the weekend as we had a little debate beween vegetarians and meat eaters. A large portion of vegetarians based their decision on a compunction to killing animals. As I cycled through the vegetarians I know in my personal life (not lit net) I was struck at how many are vegetarians, pro-abortion, and atheists. Now how does one evolve to where animal life is actually more valued than a unborn baby? The only way I can understand this is that that person has an unfixed moral guideposts that evolves with convenience.
LET THERE BE LIGHT
"Love follows knowledge." – St. Catherine of Siena
My literature blog: http://ashesfromburntroses.blogspot.com/
Straw man, because the people who are pro-abortion aren't 'pro-abortion'. Nobody would be unhappy if abortions suddenly stopped happening, and it seems like we're getting closer to that, now that Plan B is over the counter most places.
I have seen stuides that suggest that heavily irrelgious countries have lower rates of teen abortion.
What is the use of a violent kind of delightfulness if there is no pleasure in not getting tired of it.
- Gertrude Stein
A washerwoman with her basket; a rook; a red-hot poker; th purples and grey-greens of flowers: some common feeling which held the whole together.
- Virginia Woolf
Well, that's just another form of aborton. So if you're not pro-killing you're against murder personally but it's a person's choice whether they should perform one. No one is "pro-abortion" but one and a half million are performed annually in my country. Hmm.
Like which ones? I've never heard that.I have seen stuides that suggest that heavily irrelgious countries have lower rates of teen abortion.
LET THERE BE LIGHT
"Love follows knowledge." – St. Catherine of Siena
My literature blog: http://ashesfromburntroses.blogspot.com/
You are, quite simply, medically wrong. Plan B prevents conception. If you take it while pregnant, it won't work.
http://www.skeptic.com/the_magazine/...healthier.html
What is the use of a violent kind of delightfulness if there is no pleasure in not getting tired of it.
- Gertrude Stein
A washerwoman with her basket; a rook; a red-hot poker; th purples and grey-greens of flowers: some common feeling which held the whole together.
- Virginia Woolf
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