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RE: does evil exist?
May 26, 2010 at 9:07 pm
That baby is giving us the finger!
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RE: does evil exist?
May 26, 2010 at 9:34 pm
Evil, whilst being entirely subjective, exists as a concept, just as love exists as a concept. It is interpreted differently by different people, but it still exists.
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RE: does evil exist?
May 27, 2010 at 12:18 am
When that serial killer grabs your little sister - there's evil...
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RE: does evil exist?
May 27, 2010 at 2:57 am
Evil exists but it isn't some nefarious supernatural entity. Evil is a human trait, a malevolence against a person's species typically. As humans our superstitions have long given us a need to demonize things. Evil became an entity within itself, not simply a generalization of acts we consider beyond human, or so repulsive that they shouldn't be human. Evil doesn't haunt a house, or anything ridiculous like that. If a man knowingly sends multitudes to their deaths for his own personal gain, then that is evil, etc. It's humanity that is evil, not the boogeyman.
"In our youth, we lacked the maturity, the decency to create gods better than ourselves so that we might have something to aspire to. Instead we are left with a host of deities who were violent, narcissistic, vengeful bullies who reflected our own values. Our gods could have been anything we could imagine, and all we were capable of manifesting were gods who shared the worst of our natures."-Me
"Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation; all of which may be guides to an outward moral virtue, even if religion vanished; but religious superstition dismounts all these and erects an absolute monarchy in the minds of men." – Francis Bacon
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RE: does evil exist?
May 27, 2010 at 9:56 am
"Evil" exists only as we define it. Actions in and of themselves are not necessarily "evil". What may be considered "evil" is the motivation for those actions. For example, let's say I pick up a rifle and kill 30 people. Is that evil? Some people would quickly answer, "Of course!" But what if I tell you that I'm a soldier in Afghanistan and the Taliban is attacking my unit? Does that make a difference? I would hope so. Also, the same actions and motivation may be considered evil by one group of people and heroic by another. The 9/11 hijackers are a good example. Most of the world considers them to be evil (myself included). In many parts of the Muslim world, however, these scumbags are hailed as heroes! What's "evil" may often be determined by what side of the fence you're sitting on.
Science flies us to the moon and stars. Religion flies us into buildings.
God allowed 200,000 people to die in an earthquake. So what makes you think he cares about YOUR problems?
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RE: does evil exist?
May 27, 2010 at 4:45 pm
Welcome to the forums TWQ!
I suppose in the end, an individuals stance on evil would be the same as their stance on morality as the two clearly linked.
Personally I do not believe in an objective morality; good, bad and so on are judged entirely subjectivly within our social structure as such an extreme immoral act (an "evil" act) would only be so when judged by our society. This judgement is of course subjective but when I say our society, I refer to humanity as a whole not any one denomination.
Thanks
Sam
"We need not suppose more things to exist than are absolutely neccesary." William of Occam
"Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt" William Shakespeare (Measure for Measure: Act 1, Scene 4)