Can anyone give me a example of how religous moral is superior to secular morality

[genkaus]

I'm not convinced that the system of morality is all that important. My secular moral position instructs me not to steal things, not to murder people, and not to cheat on my wife. The fact that these are all also part of Judeo-Christian morality doesn't trouble me in the least.

Put another way, although I believe moral behaviour to have evolved along with human beings, I'm not going to commit an immoral behaviour simply because it happens to be written down in some fatuous book cobbled together by a lot of semi-barbaric tribesmen.

That being said, I'm something of a fan of situational ethics. In another thread, I mentioned stealing food to feed a hungry child. We're I forced into such a positionn by circumstance, I would commit the theft without a backward glance. Similarly, although I value human life, I value some more than others and I honestly don't think I would hesitate to kill to protect someone I loved.

On the third point mentioned above, cheating on my wife is right out, since she once told me that if she ever caught me at it, she'd kill me in my sleep. Self-preservation trumps morality, every time.

Boru

So, would you consider a morality where self-preservation is the standard for moral behavior to be superior? If yes, then the justification for this would be?

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Most morality it appears to me, is based upon empathy. I can imagine the hurt to the victim of my immoral act and that seems to stop me.

I guess its why people that do not steal from others have less problem fiddling an insurance claim and the like. It harder to empathise with an organisation that with another individual or group of individuals.

I can't think of a single moral position for a religious person that is better, per-say, than that of an atheist - although I think the reverse is fairly easy to argue. Religious people constantly argue that it is the fear of God that keeps them in line. An atheist acts morally simply because it is the right thing to do. In fact many theists try to argue that atheists don't believe do they don't have to face the after-life repercussions of their actions.

Further, the tendency of religious people to ascribe anything that is good about them to God and anything bad to the devil appears to me to be a moral cop-out of the highest order.

All part and parcel of the loathsome features of religion that believers don't even see.....

This seems to be the most common moral principle presumed when considering morality - that it is based on empathy.