RE: Problem of good and evil for an atheist
August 14, 2010 at 8:31 am
(This post was last modified: August 14, 2010 at 8:32 am by The Omnissiunt One.)
Morality, if I can chip in with my view, is an ongoing debate within society about how to prioritise people's interests, which include their pre-existing moral beliefs. Some things we worked out ages ago; societies can't exist if everyone is allowed to rape, murder and steal on a whim. Other things vary wildly from culture to culture. Still, I believe that we can claim the existence of an objective moral standard (like, for instance, going against a person's wishes, unless not doing so goes against more people's wishes, is bad). This is not because of some supernatural command, but because of our compassion, our ability to reason and our need to decide what we can allow and what we can't.
'We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.' H.L. Mencken
'False religion' is the ultimate tautology.
'It is just like man's vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because it is dumb to his dull perceptions.' Mark Twain
'I care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.' Abraham Lincoln
'False religion' is the ultimate tautology.
'It is just like man's vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because it is dumb to his dull perceptions.' Mark Twain
'I care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.' Abraham Lincoln
