Religion is a poor source of morality

[robvalue]

Harris will pay! No wait, that's too much.

I appreciate it I'm not trying to say I'm right or anything, I'm truly trying to understand the difference of opinion. My aim is just to discuss and learn.

I thought of an analogy which might express my concerns somewhat. Asking which society is "better" is like me asking which of two cars is "better". Now, if one of them is a brand new sports car and the other is a screwed up banger which can barely move, common sense and every reasonable assessment is going to lead me to say the sports car is "better". I wouldn't argue with that as a sensible assessment.

But instead, I have two different cars, both in decent working order. Different models, different sizes, different specs, different wheels, and so on. Which is "better"? I'd say it's a meaningless question, unless you ask better for what. If there is an answer in principle as to which is "better", then that is meaningless to me. It could only be some sort of graded average of performance under all kinds of different conditions. Which is actually better, in a real situation, is subjective to what I want to do with the car. What I want the car to do is like my whining about the goals of morality. "Maximize wellbeing" is so vague, that just announcing one society to be better (when it's not a sports car versus a banger), is as meaningless to me as saying car A is better than car B without telling me what for.