Ok.....So you killed off Religion...

[max-greece]

...hypothetically of course!

Maybe 50 or 60 years from now when science finally proves that all of you are right and there is no God..... and religion dies out for you!

Where as a society will the moral compass come from? Considering of course you even want a moral society?

Will it be: Laws? hmmmm...who will instill these laws? Teachers? Police? Parents? Military? Government Agencies?

Will it be community groups? Say like: Acorn? YMC...whoops....Boys & Girls & Gay clubs? Planned Parenthood? The cities or states?

Or will it be just every "being" for themselves, and NO LAWS? Total FREEDOM! WOW!! Freedom to do ANYTHING!! And no one to tell you differently!

I'm just wondering what it will be like in "Your Perfect World" w/o God & religion?

Let us see where the moral compass points in a world w/o God?

Being new here I have obviously missed previous discussions that have covered this ground so I am happy to take these as genuine questions.

There appear to be a number of assumptions in your questions which are probably not reasonable. If we did manage to prove that there is no God I could not see religions simply folding up their tents and closing down. Most atheists would regard God as largely disproved today and yet see little reduction in numbers in the religions of the world. Some, in fact, are booming.

I would imagine, whatever the evidence, that religion would continue as if nothing had happened. Never underestimate the propensity towards denial of believers.

Best case scenario - it would take hundreds of years for religions to reduce to covering, say 10% of the population of the planet.

Even if we were to assume religion did shut down what evidence is there that morality would change as a result one iota?

That is not to say morality won't change - it does, even now with religion, merely that the loss of religion won't cause further change.

Proving that there is no God consequently proves that morality is a man-made construct. My guess is that we would discover that it was a natural, evolutionary development that allowed larger brained, social mammals to live and cooperate together in communities, supplementing the instinctive behaviour that suffices for less intelligent mammals.

Obviously this would explain the relative nature of morality that we have observed throughout history.

Society continues pretty much as it always has done.

A more interesting question would be how we deal with those that find the idea of no heaven and true, real, permanent death so frightening.

[Ryantology]

You do realize that most of the world does not follow your moral laws already, right? Were you aware that there exists virtually zero laws which originate from your religion?

Your religion is nowhere near as vital to the world as you think it is. If it disappeared tomorrow, what would we lose besides more raped boys and inspiration for Japanese anime?

So you don't have an answer either. Next...

That's because, in making the hilariously false assumption that all human morals derive from your religion, you have asked an invalid question.

[ronedee]

So you don't have an answer either. Next...

That's because, in making the hilariously false assumption that all human morals derive from your religion, you have asked an invalid question.

Ok laughing smartass.... where do "morals" come from? I'll wait...

[Ryantology]

That's because, in making the hilariously false assumption that all human morals derive from your religion, you have asked an invalid question.

Ok laughing smartass.... where do "morals" come from? I'll wait...

People, specifically. A shared desire to see civilization function, generally.

[justin]

We increase the rate of progress in which our species thrives for in multiple ways and leave the old nutjobs and primitive religions behind. Seeing as religion tends to be more immoral than moral our standards for morals and values can develop at a faster rate with those books on the shelves where they belong, fiction.

[LeoVonFrost]

Ok laughing smartass.... where do "morals" come from? I'll wait...

A difficult question. My morals come from my heart, when a man is hitting a woman I intervene not because I wonder if it will make god happy that I'm doing the right thing.

Considering abuse is allowed in the bible
(Exodus 21:20-21 NAB) When a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod so hard that the slave dies under his hand, he shall be punished. If, however, the slave survives for a day or two, he is not to be punished, since the slave is his own property.

I'd say I'm even more moral than the religious are. The religious program of celestial kudos for good and eternal damnation for bad has been hindering mankind for quite long enough. I hope that when there is nothing to cast judgement upon us, God or man, then man will understand that it is by our will alone that we do good things. One could argue that the social strife (In India, the Hindu caste system organises division of labour and power in human society. It is a system of social stratification) religion has placed upon man is the sole reason man is corrupt. Unfortunately going back to the time when the Earth was bountiful for all without borders means a lot of people are going to die, but they will die from the hands of the religious (The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the judicial system of the Roman Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, hundreds of thousands were tortured and then killed.)

[ronedee]

Being new here I have obviously missed previous discussions that have covered this ground so I am happy to take these as genuine questions.

There appear to be a number of assumptions in your questions which are probably not reasonable. If we did manage to prove that there is no God I could not see religions simply folding up their tents and closing down. Most atheists would regard God as largely disproved today and yet see little reduction in numbers in the religions of the world. Some, in fact, are booming.

I would imagine, whatever the evidence, that religion would continue as if nothing had happened. Never underestimate the propensity towards denial of believers.

Best case scenario - it would take hundreds of years for religions to reduce to covering, say 10% of the population of the planet.

Even if we were to assume religion did shut down what evidence is there that morality would change as a result one iota?

That is not to say morality won't change - it does, even now with religion, merely that the loss of religion won't cause further change.

Proving that there is no God consequently proves that morality is a man-made construct. My guess is that we would discover that it was a natural, evolutionary development that allowed larger brained, social mammals to live and cooperate together in communities, supplementing the instinctive behaviour that suffices for less intelligent mammals.

Obviously this would explain the relative nature of morality that we have observed throughout history.

Society continues pretty much as it always has done.

A more interesting question would be how we deal with those that find the idea of no heaven and true, real, permanent death so frightening.

Thanks for "seriously" addressing the question(s). I think you are right on several counts.

It would need to be very big medicine for religion to just go away. And it would be several hundred years even in the face of that reality, just for the "faithful" to die away.

But, I'm imagining that a world w/o [a] God (real or perceived) would also lack a check & balance system.

Think about this: "IF" we knew that there was [absolutely] a God, and consequences for immoral actions we would somehow "try" to do good. At least most of us; as we would know about that better place, and the not so better place...because we saw it!

What would happen if we "absolutely knew", without a doubt this was it? When dead, we're gone? Like a lot of you "intelligent" guys think.

I'm thinking that it wouldn't be a pretty picture. Why? Because only "survival" would be of importance. I'm not saying that everyone would subscribe to this...but an awful lot would!

Most would deny that it would be chaos w/o God. But, if the aforementioned would change life w/ "proof" (as most atheists have indicated), why wouldn't the opposite be true?

This is worth pondering about.... a society w/o God, or a moral compass.

[Cato]

"Hope" is faith based. et tu brute? no answer.

No answer, and yet here I am answering. Funny, you use Juluis Caesar's dying words instead of Christ's. And you dare to question my faith.

[ronedee]

"Hope" is faith based. et tu brute? no answer.

No answer, and yet here I am answering. Funny, you use Juluis Caesar's dying words instead of Christ's. And you dare to question my faith.

Any way possible....to avoid the question? Tiberius?

[LeoVonFrost]

I'm thinking that it wouldn't be a pretty picture. Why? Because only "survival" would be of importance. I'm not saying that everyone would subscribe to this...but an awful lot would!

As long as we are in this amazing fantasy I would like to think that mankind's problems with survival of the fittest are not applicable, money and enemies and gods will not be there to cloud our brains. In the event that we do end up still worshipping material goods then your argument is invalid because there would still be a god. Perhaps god is the reason for immorality? In the event that we are still warring with those enemies across the river than there would definitely be a reason for judgement on "bad" actions, but I don't believe we would need a god to be our compass, that is one of the most horrendous thing religion has done to us - removed our individuality. You are not being controlled by a master plan, you are just you. A system of law would have to be our compass, void of anything religious.