(May 12, 2011 at 2:58 pm)diffidus Wrote: If you believe in God, then how to behave is simple: This life is transient and if you do good things you will spend the rest of eternity in Heaven, whereas, if you behave badly you go to Hell for eternity. If you truly believe in God, then you cannot question the morality of this because God, being perfect, could not be in error.
If you do not believe in God, then this life is still a fleeting transient moment compared to the age of the universe, but how to behave is not so clear. Since this is the one and only existence, then the only rational course is to pursue those things that serve your own ends and maximise the pleasure and happiness of your short vacation from the dark abyss of eternity.
With regard to the latter, this means that the only grounds for altruism is if you happen to be a person who enjoys putting others before yourself. If you happen to be selfish thats OK too. The only thing you need to avoid is breaking the Law, since this may take away your freedom which would diminish your existence. Apart from that, it is a free for all - a morality of ends?
There is an evolutionary basis for morality. Complex species such as humans and higher mammals display 'altruistic' behavior as a form of social interaction that helps the species to survive as a whole. Morality is not something that comes from a god, but from an inherent part of complex organisms that arise from natural processes. Morality becomes more and more important as a civilization advances: moving away from the stoning of adulterers in the past to the UN human rights declaration, people are increasingly aware of our need for an ethical system to base our lives on.
As for the other case, I would then argue, if we lived by religious morals, wouldn't the world be utterly chaotic and violent? The bible tells us to kill homosexuals, that slavery is perfectly fine, and that murder can be justified in the name of an invisible god. The worst thing is, the entire doctrine of christianity lies upon the concept of vicarious redemption, that it is perfectly fine to push the blame on someone else and not be accountable for one's own actions. What about islam? In many islamic nations, genital mutilation is prevalent. Women are treated at a level beneath that of animals. Is this moral? I think not. I would want a morality that is properly reasoned and argued, not one that is built upon by religious ideologies meant to control the minds of the masses.
