Hope for America!!

[robvalue]

I've suspected for a long time Drich doesn't have empathy.

The thing is, if this is true, it's not his fault. It's not the same as having empathy and choosing to ignore it. If you simply don't have it, you can't learn it. You can learn to mimick it, but that's all.

Being a person without empathy must be very difficult. I've asked before what the point of "objective morality" is, all these rules laid out, and who it is for. The only sensible answer I've had is that it's for people without empathy. So in such cases, religion might be one way of keeping them somewhat in line with society.

I don't think this is a worthy trade-off in general. But some sort of lingering ethereal threat seems to prove effective for those with and without empathy alike. Unfortunately, the kind of morality religion has to offer is generally hundreds of years behind civilised society.

Seriously, I don't have any great answers for how society should deal with those without empathy. And I feel sorry for people in that situation. They literally do not have a moral compass to guide them. I suppose all they have is pragmatism, which can cause them to at least obey laws. I have heard though that psycopaths in particular do very well in business, probably due to being ruthless and unhindered by moral considerations. So there is a kind of place for them... many "top dogs" have been found to be psycopaths, I believe. They have found a somewhat positive outlet, which stimulates their overly developed reward-based brain chemistry.

Maybe this is part of Drich's "business", trying to win over hardened atheists to his cause. Sadly for him, he has less chance than most, because his whole idea of morality does not correspond in any way to the average atheist. Or indeed theist. Most of them seem to believe morality is about doing what God says and being a good person, even though that doesn't make any sense.