WELCOME TO THE NEW WORLD ORDER...

[Natachan]

...Are you a POE? Because this seemed incoherent.

Morality slipping? Crime, especially violent crime, is falling. This is the safest time to live history. People are more tolerant of those of other races, religions, gender, or sexual orientation than ever before. Or perhaps you believe that last is part of the moral decline you speak of, in which case I disagree. Strongly.

And what's wrong with video games, movies, or porn?

[robvalue]

I am actually wondering whether real morality getting better looks worse to fundamentalists.

If things headed towards what they wanted, that sure as hell would be worse.

[dyresand]

Are you so sure..... really sure of this consider the middle east it is a religious driven country and it houses extremists we are trying to pretty much kill.
Are you so sure that true peace not from religion but secularism is bad? By a theological perspective the world ended ages ago i am not even joking.

The bible as a base of morality no. Does the bible have morals some what. Pretty fucked up morals considered by today's standards.

Secular morals why batter than biblical for sure.

[Faith No More]

I swear, theists just stick their fingers in their ears when we explain how morality is actually formed. We get our morality from our environment, our family, our friends but also our empathy. Something that every human is born with, excluding psychopaths. We are capable of recognizing something bad and imagining it happening to us or someone we love. Therefore we understand and we don't do these things to other people (steal, rape, murder etc) and we also help out. For example, neither I or any of my family has had cancer, and yet I donate monthly to Cancer Research UK. No god is needed to explain morality. And i'm not even going to get into the evolutionary side of it because I know Rondee would rather chop off his ears then accept that.

Empathy is not something we're born with. It is mostly formed when we are children by the bonds we have with our parents. By nurturing the emotional connection between parents and children the parts of our brain that are responsible for empathy become more developed, and that is how we really need to approach our moral issues.

[abaris]

Empathy is not something we're born with. It is mostly formed when we are children by the bonds we have with our parents. By nurturing the emotional connection between parents and children the parts of our brain that are responsible for empathy become more developed, and that is how we really need to approach our moral issues.

It's up for debate if we're born with it. As I always keep repeating, new experiments with animals have shown them to possess empathy. So it may actually be a result of evolution, since having empathy actually has it's advantages, at least for a social species.

The dogs responded — 15 of the 18 in the study — by seeking out the person in distress, even if that person was the stranger. “On the surface, it certainly seemed as if the dogs were demonstrating empathy,” says Custance, who thought that if the dogs were seeking comfort for themselves they would go to their caretaker. She admits that the study raises other questions: What about other emotions, such as pleasure or anger? Would dogs respond differently to children?

Read more: http://www.cesarsway.com/dogbehavior/bas...z3NgQ1NGcg

“This suggests that the way emotional contagion works may not have changed much since humans split off from chimpanzees and bonobos 5 [million] to 7 million years ago,” said Campbell. “Rather, what appears to have changed is something about deep emotional connections that humans have with close family and friends. Humans could bond with others more intensely than bonobos, or humans could do this more frequently than bonobos.”

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.v...s-Humans-/

[Mister Agenda]

It seems that the time is ripe for opinion and lies to replace truth and morality.

Seems to always be that time, except in retrospect, doesn't it?

And now that God has been ceremoniously and conveniently stripped from society... EVERYTHING will be based on public opinion.

When did THAT happen? Just the other day I read that over 70% of Americans identify as Christian. Your statement seems to be some kind of weird opinion, not truth or morality. And your conclusion does not follow from your premise.

The lines will be blurred; and goal posts with wheels on what was once a moral foundation. ONE, that held all else to a higher standard.

Humanism is a higher standard. Christian morality has been haltingly approaching that standard, albeit often with enormous reluctance and at least one War of Secession.

Even atheists must agree, that the society as we are now morphing into is due to a lack of instilled morality.

Violent crime is down, the economy is picking up, and quite a lot of the immorality we observe is among those counted as religious leaders.

I've heard here, that empathy is all that one needs to build a moral bases..... I ask, where do you find that in the general public?

In small acts of kindness.

Who finds empathy, and where?

Those who seek it, and sometimes those who don't, and it can be found in a compassionate human.

A video game, or sniper movie? Perhaps an evening of s&m porn will make one empathetic?

Doesn't seem likely, does it? Why would those things seem to you to be good places to look for empathy?

No, there is no tap for empathy. We hope some parent, somewhere is teaching their child how to empathize.... and not to walk by a bleeding person in the street who may be our child!

Some parents, some places do.

Where will ALL the good people come from?

Same places they always have. Sometimes bad people come from a good place and good people come from a bad place, so it's hard to predict.

Per society (and atheist) wishes, God and His people will diminish. But then, Allah and his cohorts are their replacement!

This is not a realistic fear. The USA does not have any close neighbors among the Muslim nations, and they're less than 3% of our population. And Allah and his people will diminish also. American culture is insidious like that.

A New World Order needs a new minor annoyance.... Oui? Do you not find it strange that our society is now embracing almost everything that is counter to our sense of natural order?

By that you seem to mean counter to your personal preferences.

Its actually, mind boggling! And at a pace that is making heads spin! Or roll as Allah and our govt would have it!

You could have said the same thing about equal rights for blacks in the sixties. A lot of people did, although without the Allah nonsense.

And the NWO will of course be how many people you have on your side of the street! And how sharp your sword is. So stock up on vittles and candles. And get ready for a bumpy ride. Its not gonna get better. I'm usually an optimist. Not lately. I'll probably be one of the first to go anyway! I don't take to change very well.

Melodramatic much? No one is coming to get you. At least, no one is coming to get you for being Catholic. I don't know to what else you're up.

At least your OP is likely to spark a lot of comments.

[Faith No More]

It's up for debate if we're born with it. As I always keep repeating, new experiments with animals have shown them to possess empathy. So it may actually be a result of evolution, since having empathy actually has it's advantages, at least for a social species.

Well, we might be born with the capacity for some empathy, but it's definitely something that needs to be nurtured. Empathy is most definitely a result of evolution, and what you will notice is that in the animals that do develop empathy, you will also see a strong parent/offspring bond.

ETA: Sorry, I responded before I saw the links, but they pretty much reinforce what I was saying.

[abaris]

Well, we might be born with the capacity for some empathy, but it's definitely something that needs to be nurtured. Empathy is most definitely a result of evolution, and what you will notice is that in the animals that do develop empathy, you will also see a strong parent/offspring bond.

It's actually a very fascinating field. At least for me it is. I guess, more than anything else, empathy rather points to the social species direction, since living in a group, necessitates rules and taking into account the actions and emotions of other group members.

[Minimalist]

God and His people will diminish.

Good. Fuck him and you.

[Whateverist]

Not like ronny to duck a challenge. Hard to imagine he'd start a thread if he was too busy to participate. Could it be that he has realized the errors of his position and just doesn't know how express his regrets? We'll see.