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Religion
In reply to the discussion: The two big things I think religion provides that secularism does not. [View all]Moonwalk
(2,322 posts)20. In regards to acting ethically (point 2) you state:
As an atheist, I have to accept that sometimes doing the right thing is not going to be rewarded. I've heard Richard Dawkins argue that this means that only atheists are genuinely capable of ethical behaviour - for the religious it's just a form of deferred self-interested. I'm not sure I buy that...
There are two mistakes you make. First, you presume that the religion--whether it uses such elements or not, is pushing ethics. Yet religion has been used to justify slavery, abusing and murdering children, women, gays, for excusing genocide come to that, etc. So, that's your first mistake. Religion is NEVER telling people why they should act "ethically"--religion is always telling people why they should do as the religion says. Which may or may not be "ethical."
Second, whether you buy what Dawkins says or not, you can't deny that heaven & hell are a big part of many religions and create a paranoia that isn't always a good thing for believers however "ethically" it makes them act. There are those who are ethical and good, yet live in fear that they are sinners and going to hell all the same. Psychologically and emotionally, it can be very damaging to be continually obsessed about whether god loves one, forgives one, is going to reward or punish one. Yet many religions offer these as their primary, weekly messages: be what god (the religion) wants you to be...or else. And as the religion promotes superstition, anything that happens--and illness, an accident--is "for a reason--like you haven't been "good enough." Nothing happens just because shit happens.
How can this be "ethical" even if it offers a reason for the believer to act "ethically"?
Just something to consider. And that is my second and final point on this.
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The two big things I think religion provides that secularism does not. [View all]
Donald Ian Rankin
May 2013
OP
It is interesting you only consider the "positive" things that you believe religion brings,
trotsky
May 2013
#1
I believe religion brings many negative things, which are more than adequately discussed elsewhere.
Donald Ian Rankin
May 2013
#3
JMHO, but I think most of the religious people who post on DU avoid this group like the plague.
cbayer
May 2013
#14
I believe the relevant saying here is "first cast out the beam out of thine own eye". N.T.
Donald Ian Rankin
May 2013
#70
How utterly insulting to condemn my post without bothering to read it.
Donald Ian Rankin
May 2013
#6
You think it's rare for an atheist to do the right thing because it's the right thing to do?
Iggo
May 2013
#77
If I had said that, rather than saying exactly the reverse, I would have been wrong.
Donald Ian Rankin
May 2013
#11
i don't know that "demand" is the right word. most modern religions HAVE moral codes
unblock
May 2013
#16
many modern religions don't have language that strong, certainly not in practice.
unblock
May 2013
#26
It is obviously not "moral behavior" that gets one damned for eternity.
Warren Stupidity
May 2013
#39
Oh, and your assumption is that without religion people would eat their babies.
Warren Stupidity
May 2013
#22
i disagree that religion "provides" a moral code. it claims a moral code as its own.
unblock
May 2013
#24
The answer to 'why behave ethically' might turn out to be 'because it benefits you directly'.
Bluenorthwest
May 2013
#34
If an atheist desires living in an ethical world, then that atheist has a really good, secular
ZombieHorde
May 2013
#36
I'm intrigued by questions of what sociological and psychological roles religion plays
LiberalAndProud
May 2013
#58
As to your first point, that's an argument that demonstrates the ethical superiority...
Humanist_Activist
May 2013
#68