(February 18, 2010 at 1:47 pm)objectivitees Wrote:(February 18, 2010 at 1:34 pm)tavarish Wrote:(February 18, 2010 at 1:25 pm)objectivitees Wrote: Any argument that seeks to demonstrate God is "evil" where the presupposition of Atheism is that moral value judgments are subjective.
That's not the point. Using the immorality argument is valid because Christians look to the Bible for morality that is applicable today. This, by any measurable standard, is pretty ridiculous, as the bible has lots of morally contradictory actions, not to mention the outright malice that God shows in much of the Old Testament.
Subjectivity aside, it's disturbing to use a 2000 year old ancient text based on superstitious assumptions to guide your actions in modern day civilized society. Especially when that text is morally defunct, historically inaccurate, and internally contradictory.
That would be like me using the Code of Hammurabi for a standard of justice. It just doesn't work. Our thinking and actions have evolved past that, I should hope.
Yes it is the point. BTW... your assumptions are unwarranted, as I did not point to a "2000 year old text" to make my point. Atheism assumes morality is subjective, then tries to claim something is objectively "evil" to discredit it, and that is self-contradictory. If Atheism obtains, there is no "evil".
I never said you did point to a 2000 year old text. I was making the point that many do, and it's the crux of the "God is evil" argument. or were you referring to God creating natural disasters and giving people cancer argument? Be more specific.
If an atheist is making the claim that "God is evil" when they in fact don't believe in God, that would be self contradictory. You can't attribute a quality to something that doesn't exist, at least subjectively. What the argument actually pertains to is that the God portrayed in the Bible and other holy books is immoral. There is valid basis here, as people actually look to these books for moral guidance.
Atheism doesn't assume ANYTHING. It's a disbelief in God or gods. That's it. The people who subscribe to this label are vastly different, and there is no underlying dogma or unifying force, other than perhaps the chastisement of a very religious society. There's nothing in atheism that can't allow for belief in celestial fairies and invisible pink unicorns either.
I think we're mixing concepts here. Let's define good and evil.
Good - describes actions or entities that are for the mutual benefit of society and its members. A form of positive progression.
Evil - describes actions or entities that detract or hinder from the progression of society; a harm-causing regression.
These are my definitions, I'm sure you can add to them.
I agree that if an atheist contends that God is inherently evil, and therefore they do not believe in his existence, that is self-contradictory. I do get the feeling you're not understanding the argument here. Either that, or someone just approached you with a shit point.