RE: Is there actually evil in the world?
February 13, 2011 at 9:31 pm
(This post was last modified: February 13, 2011 at 9:51 pm by Oldandeasilyconfused.)
(February 12, 2011 at 8:34 am)DoubtVsFaith Wrote: I got it from The God Delusion.
As for time and culture, does that make any difference? If people were less moral in the past they were less moral in the past.
Is there such a thing as objective evil? NO. I'm unaware of any external or transcendental moral authority which is able to define such a thing.
A moral relativist,I see context as crucial. Morality is based on pragmatism and changes in accordance with place and the times. So far I have yet to discover even one absolute,universal moral imperative.Referring to a person or people as moral or immoral out of context is meaningless.
EG Few rational people today support say stoning for adultery,chopping off the right hand of a thief,or killing a disobedient child. These laws are all found in the Torah and/or the Qur'an and/or Hadith.
Such laws date to Hammurabi and were considered moral and just up to about 2 hundred years ago in many countries. EG the English were still hanging 12 year old children for theft at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
Rules of warfare covering the rank and file are modern inventions.The Geneva convention was only first drafted in1864,and not signed by all nations.
