RE: Relative Morality
October 24, 2010 at 7:15 am
(This post was last modified: October 24, 2010 at 7:16 am by Rwandrall.)
"If it is immoral for a people to go into a foreign land, conduct genocide on it's inhabitants, confiscate their property, rape their women ... is it moral if 'god' commands it?"
as much as i think religion is bullshit, not a SINGLE christian out there uses these Old Testament passages as his basis for morality. They got rid of the old Testament, by arguing Jesus' coming made these laws have accomplished their purpose.
They mainly use the New Testament, with the basis being the Catechism of the Catholic Church, written by the infallible ecumenical council. This text, if you read it, is actually pretty ok ! For example, it says people who are not Christian but still actively research a sinless life go to Heaven anyways. I read it, trying to find things to be mad at, and i had a hard time finding any.
Even Islam is pretty alright as a whole, all the problems that come from it, like in the Bible, come from a few easily manipulated passages.
Now about "if God commands it, you can do anything". What about the secular mentality of "if i don't get caught, i can do anything" ? It's true that with no objective standard of ultimate justice, you can do anything you want and only the damage it can cause to yourself is a real deterrent. Look at the mafia, they killed a whole lot of people, ruined a good number of lives, with no religious implication whatsoever. So secular morality is not necessarily better.
as much as i think religion is bullshit, not a SINGLE christian out there uses these Old Testament passages as his basis for morality. They got rid of the old Testament, by arguing Jesus' coming made these laws have accomplished their purpose.
They mainly use the New Testament, with the basis being the Catechism of the Catholic Church, written by the infallible ecumenical council. This text, if you read it, is actually pretty ok ! For example, it says people who are not Christian but still actively research a sinless life go to Heaven anyways. I read it, trying to find things to be mad at, and i had a hard time finding any.
Even Islam is pretty alright as a whole, all the problems that come from it, like in the Bible, come from a few easily manipulated passages.
Now about "if God commands it, you can do anything". What about the secular mentality of "if i don't get caught, i can do anything" ? It's true that with no objective standard of ultimate justice, you can do anything you want and only the damage it can cause to yourself is a real deterrent. Look at the mafia, they killed a whole lot of people, ruined a good number of lives, with no religious implication whatsoever. So secular morality is not necessarily better.
