(January 15, 2017 at 9:13 pm)Aroura Wrote:(January 15, 2017 at 7:21 pm)Catholic_Lady Wrote: Thank you for the compliments. I'll have to disagree though. If you claim religion (or a priest or a holy book) can influence people to do bad things, there's no reason why it can't influence people to do good things. I think when someone attributes people's bad actions to their religion, but then does not attribute good actions to it, it's really unfair and clearly biased.Please point out how it is bias?
It may seem like common sense, but you know common sense is just flat out wrong as often as not.
There may be specific I stances where religion influenced a person to do a good thing, bit the point is, people n general will do those good things even without religion. Unless you honestly believe all of us on this forum dont do good things?
And evil people will do bad things regardless of religion. Believe in god and thinking they will go to hell didn't stop any number of serial killers and such. Lack of religion doesn't make a bad person more evil, either.
But for a good , nonviolent, normal person to become a murders requires some extreme, and religion can provide that extreme, though it is not the only influence that can.
It's not bias to say religion does not cause morality, its fact. To be clear, its the other way round. Human Morality causes religion. All evidence points to this.
I understand you will continue to disagree, otherwise what would be the point of belief? Which is really my point, too.
Hey, btw, why does a gorilla adopt a kitten and care for it she it could easily rip it to bits or squash it? The kitten does not feed the gorilla, it is not really anything to the gorilla except extra work. Yes, it gets cuddles, but A snake would eat the kitten without a second thought, even if the kitten tried to give it the same cuddles.
Neither the gorilla nor the snake are good or evil, unless you are the kitten of course, they are just acting according to their natures. And so it is with humans. Our natures are social, like the gorilla. We don't need a priest to tell us to care for the kitten, we just naturally do it. Good ones anyway. The bad ones light it on fire. With or without the idea of god.
(I'm not saying people can't be moral without religion. I would never take that stance.)
There can be positive and negative influences in ppl's lives. To say religion can ever only influence ppl negatively and never positively, really doesn't make any sense.
"Of course, everyone will claim they respect someone who tries to speak the truth, but in reality, this is a rare quality. Most respect those who speak truths they agree with, and their respect for the speaking only extends as far as their realm of personal agreement. It is less common, almost to the point of becoming a saintly virtue, that someone truly respects and loves the truth seeker, even when their conclusions differ wildly."
-walsh
-walsh