Non-literal atheism?

[stonedape]

The danger lies in men placing moral imperatives above the well-being of others. I also think that the idea that moral relativism and subjectivity automatically results in conformity and depravity wouldn't bear much close scrutiny.

Right now everybody is in denial about some very immoral issues. They refuse to adapt to the dystopia created by ideals of the past. Moral relativity only offers a Xanatos Gambit in this context.

Take the wars on drugs for instance. We have the worlds largest prison population, because we refuse to kick our addiction to self destructive policies. This is one example where moral relativity has lead us to a trap.

There is also our immoral and oppressive foreign policy, which is relative to our stability. If we actually allowed foreign democracies to make their own decisions, the petrodollar would be irrelevant. So we secure our relative dominance with dictatorships to oppress their citizens, so we don't have to.

I'm not sure what you mean by "moral adaptation" to the environment.

What I mean by moral adaptation to the environment is the fact we have to take responsibility for the damage we are causing with the facts and a sacrifice of our temporary self interest, to serve the best interests of the distant future.
Now that climate deniers are at odds with the facts, they are left with the argument that it will raise prices and we'll lose jobs. Those people are what I'd call nihilists.
The prefabricated moral argument is that science is the devil's work. Those people are being manipulated by powerful legalese speaking psychopaths that rule the world. So I'll go ahead and call that the devil's work in a metaphoric but objective sense.

Facts are on the side of nihilism. I've seen charts and graphs proving that multiculturalism is bad for society. I had no factual defense. This did not sway me against my moral values. I'm a humanist and I believe global democracy is the right to vote with your feet.
To me morality is dynamic, guided by the scriptures of recorded human history. Where we can see the process of trial error and victory at the expense of the suffering of others. That's how we defeat the roaches on most resilient species. We can adapt and evolve based on will power. Not just selective breeding.

[The Grand Nudger]

LOL, the war on drugs isn't exactly the best thing to point to when talking about moral relativity, and any "trap" it might lead us into.

Drugs are bad, mmmkay. Pretty much sums up our position, and that isn't all that relative, eh?

[stonedape]

LOL, the war on drugs isn't exactly the best thing to point to when talking about moral relativity, and any "trap" it might lead us into.

Drugs are bad, mmmkay. Pretty much sums up our position, and that isn't all that relative, eh?

Maybe it's a bad example. But we have to morally evaluate what's worse, the punishment or the crime. The moral we are imposing is "don't fuck up your life or we'll fuck it up harder" and I find that counter productive to the improvement of society.

It's moral to learn from your mistakes. That's what I mean by morality being objectively dynamic rather than subjectively relative.