RE: Replacing Religious Morality
November 13, 2013 at 2:34 am
(This post was last modified: November 13, 2013 at 2:38 am by henryp.)
(November 12, 2013 at 11:34 pm)Raven Wrote: Empathy is something which anyone who is not clinically antisocial possesses. It is not a religion, it is not a tool. We all have it. You can call it an emotional response if you like. But it is neither a religion or a tool.
Now, you can make a very good case for religion being a tool to control the masses. The government can get you in this life, but God can get you for eternity. That might be just the thing to scare some folks into behaving. You can dodge the authorities, but God knows what you did, so he'll get you in the end.
What I don't get is what the hell is it that you want? Is dropping a religious overseer too much to deal with or something? Just enjoy making your own mind up about what is important to you, and what your values are, not Rome's. What's so fucking hard about that? Those bozos in dog collars deal in absolutes, nobody else does. What is it wallym values and thinks is important? That's what matters. I don't get it, dude. I really don't
I think empathy is an erratic easily manipulated emotional response. Politicians, religion, businesses, advertising, Sally Struthers, those sad dog commercials, etc... They all manipulate the emotional response to get people to behave how they want.
As for 'what the hell I want', I'm just curious how other atheists operate. This is my first time interacting with a group of atheists. I wondered if there were people who had more than some empathy at the foundation of their belief system. It looks like that's the fairly accepted substitute.
(November 12, 2013 at 11:05 pm)Zazzy Wrote: True, which is why you have to choose your moral guidelines. You can be a rapist or a murderer if you can get away with it. Is that what you want? Or would you rather be a productive member of a thriving society? In the world as it actually is, YOU choose your moral code. If mine doesn't work for you, that's OK. Find something else- or don't and be amoral. It really is up to you.
I think the problem I'm getting caught up on, is picking a moral code based on logic. It seems like that's how a lot of us got here. The logical absurdity of religion was offputting. And to replace it with my own made up illogical moral code just seems depressing.
I'll slow down now. Thanks for the input. I'm sure the discussion has been had about a 1000 times on here already.
