Quote:
Originally Posted by Beau Perkins  Morals require Religion? |
Ok, Beau, since you ask.
It's been my experience over the years that many (not all) believers tend to think of atheists as immoral.
We are responsible for the decay of society, the immorality of our youth and the corruption of America. We're "anti-God" because we don't want our taxpayer dollars used for prayer in schools or Christian slogans in courthouses.
In their view, belief in God is a prerequisite to living a moral life. The Bible is the Word of God and contains all the laws we need to live moral lives.
Even though most of the stuff in the Bible, like the Ten Commandments, are simply practical social rules the small Israelite tribes needed to follow if they were to survive. And the Golden Rule (the ethic of reciprocity) didn't originate with Christianity, it's been very common in ancient Greek, Mithraic, Sumerian, Buddhist and other cultures long before Christ. They act like they invented morality.
Which leads me to the statement "I don't require a god or gods to lead a moral life". I generally follow the Ten commandments (except for the one about gods) because it's a standard social contract not to cheat, steal, lie, or sass your Mom. Why do I need a god to know that?