RE: Moral standards
August 2, 2014 at 9:37 am
(This post was last modified: August 2, 2014 at 10:02 am by Simon Moon.)
I haven't read the entire thread, so I may be repeating some things.
Morality is all about the well being and thriving of others.
We all live in the same physical universe and are subject to the same physical laws. From this, we can extrapolate that what I need and want for my well being and ability to thrive, is extremely similar to what the vast majority of humanity needs and wants also.
Life is preferable to death, health is preferable to disease, freedom is preferable to slavery, comfort is preferable to discomfort, etc.
We can use rationality and critical thinking to evaluate every situation that requires a moral decision to come up with the best possible choice or choices to maximize the above criteria. We may get it wrong, the choice may be ambiguous, there may be more than one choice, the outcome may not be what is expected, but this method is still much better than your god's 'divine command' method or 'might makes right'.
I don't even have to bring up the evolutionary basis for our morality to explain why secular morality is superior to theistic morality.
Morality is all about the well being and thriving of others.
We all live in the same physical universe and are subject to the same physical laws. From this, we can extrapolate that what I need and want for my well being and ability to thrive, is extremely similar to what the vast majority of humanity needs and wants also.
Life is preferable to death, health is preferable to disease, freedom is preferable to slavery, comfort is preferable to discomfort, etc.
We can use rationality and critical thinking to evaluate every situation that requires a moral decision to come up with the best possible choice or choices to maximize the above criteria. We may get it wrong, the choice may be ambiguous, there may be more than one choice, the outcome may not be what is expected, but this method is still much better than your god's 'divine command' method or 'might makes right'.
I don't even have to bring up the evolutionary basis for our morality to explain why secular morality is superior to theistic morality.
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
