Religion stifles Moral Evolution

[Joods]

That's an entirely different topic. My interest right now is on the thread title and the idea that morality should evolve. 

Thank you for the example. Did the NT say to drown or burn "witches"? If not, your complaint is that a group added their own crap to NT instructions and then it was subsequently found to be crap. The OP did not say "misuses of religion stifles moral evolution", so I am assuming that it is the original instructions which define a Christian that has the "stifling" effect.

Are you suggesting that the new testament says that we are to abandon law altogether?  That seems a bit steep.

I already supplied evidence that Jeebus says we aren't to do that. But as usual, he ignored all that because he couldn't deal with seeing a harsh truth about his precious religion.

[The Grand Nudger]

Meh, some people are just looking for a reason to sin, and a way to shirk their sacred duty of witch-killing. They ignore the parts of the bible that don't jive with their own personal moralities.

[Cecelia]

I think it's odd that Christians try to bring up personal responsibility, when they can't even take personal responsibility for their own bigotry and hatred. Instead they toss it off on god. "Oh, we don't hate gay people"! they'll say. "We just want them to be miserable, and think they're diseased."

On to the OT... I mean it's not like the NT outlaws slavery either. And if the OT is supposedly a stricter form of morality, that's weird cause Rape is totally okay in the OT so long as you marry her.

Religions do eventually catch up on some of the issues. Mainly because society forces them to, because otherwise they have a hard time converting anyone. It's hard to say you're morally superior when you're far from it. Currently the distance isn't quite enough to make religions leap forward and jump on the "it's okay to be gay" train. (Though some denominations are already there. Probably because they take the whole treating others right thing seriously. And kudos to them for that.) But a lot of Christians will justify it with "Not what god wants." Which is a dangerous mindset. If God suddenly wants you to go around and murder children, I surely hope you decide (unlike Abraham) that's not a great idea.

[Minimalist]

I assume the spread of STD would be greatly diminished if everyone only had sex with one person.

But they don't.

[LadyForCamus]

I'm arguing that it is relevant.  Isn't god's morality supposed to be perfect, and unchanging?  Why was the moral standard set so low for the Jews?  

As far as "new information" goes, I don't think OP means new information about the concept of morality itself; but rather, we learn via science and research, new information about the world and about people.  This new information leads to reevaluaton of what we as a society deem, "right" and "wrong", and why.

Example?  We now know it's wrong to drown women or burn them alive at the stake for being witches, because we're reasonably confident there are no such things as witches.

That's an entirely different topic. My interest right now is on the thread title and the idea that morality should evolve. 

Thank you for the example. Did the NT say to drown or burn "witches"? If not, your complaint is that a group added their own crap to NT instructions and then it was subsequently found to be crap. The OP did not say "misuses of religion stifles moral evolution", so I am assuming that it is the original instructions which define a Christian that has the "stifling" effect.

Do you have any more examples that more closely match your second paragraph (which seems so sure there has been progress)?

I wasn't clear.  My example was not meant to be a reference to the bible.  It was just a general example of how acquiring knowledge about the world leads to re-evaluation of societal morals, which is relevant to the OP as I understand it.  We used to execute women for being "witches."  Now we don't.

[The Grand Nudger]

What;s this "we" stuff? The abrahamics are still on-board.  I'm guessing the states witness claimed he woke up..his camels were dead, and his penis was smaller than it was the day before.  Scouts honor.

Saudi woman beheaded for 'witchcraft and sorcery'

http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/13/world/meas...index.html

Woman accused of witchcraft killed with grandson in Limpopo

https://www.enca.com/south-africa/woman-...in-limpopo

Oklahoma mother charged with using crucifix to kill 'possessed' daughter

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-oklah...SKCN11522P

[LadyForCamus]

@Khem

By "we", I meant...ya know...us sane people, who's morals have evolved. 😉

[Succubus]

I would change "social bonding" to "marital bonding" and would say that the whole purpose of this bond happening in the first place is to help the couple stay together in case there is a child involved. That is literally why sex evolved the way it did.

[vorlon13]

And it would be tough for me to describe current era Christians as 'morally evolving' by their heretical assertion ensoulment occurs at conception. God had it right in the first place.

I'm also looking askew at Christians asserting Scriptural Inerrancy and then casting a blind eye towards their preferred leader's pursuing an essentially disordered lifestyle of serial polygamy punctuated with DIVORCE.

[Succubus]

... Natural Law...

What is this capitalised 'Natural Law' of which you speak and where may I read up on this? Outside of theology that is.