Questions on atheist morality

Clown said:
How about common self-interests and needs?

I cannot hope to include myself in such an esteemed group, as you all are, but I'm hoping my need for inclusion will be enough.

Isn't S.A.M. special?
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SAM is special; a ver special ......
 
(Q) said:
And yet, when someone does read up on it, you make the claim that it can't be translated from Arabic and what we're reading is all misinterpretation.

You just can't stop contradicting yourself. Spin round and round, Sam. :runaway:
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Bet you didn't know that a "yaum" can mean 1 day or 50, 000 years. I didn't until SAM told me on another thread.
 
S.A.M. said:
Morality is always relative to the group. An individual has no reason for morality.
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Morality is relative to theists gods, hence the individual. The service of the individual is to the god, not to the group.
 
SAM said:
Thats zanna. No one knows why religion creates society.
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But several people have made some worthwhile progress in investigating the matter.

They compare stable human societies with and without religion, with and without deities, and so forth. They note patterns, differences (the differences among the theistic religions are informative, as is their common morality. It appears to be the same as that of the non-religious and atheistic societies) ; they record their findings and publish them for criticism.

They've found Darwinian theory and game theory and economic theory and so forth all very helpful. Theology not.

But the theist response is the Constantine Answer: "It's a divine mystery".

Only if you want it to be.
 
What an astoundingly obtuse question SAM. Unless we are to assume you received your ethics from the hand of god himself, we acquired our moral values in the same way you did of course. We were taught them explicitly and by example by our parents, our families, and by the communities we grew up in. Aside from the personal growth and development of such values as one matures they remain largely the same. Wherein lies the confusion?

~Raithere
 
Since sacred texts often teach conflicting things, our innate values our simply selected from the list of available ones. Catholics used to represent very minority values until they were assimilated. Now, their values are almost identical to average American ones, to the consternation of the Pope. The bible was used to justify slavery, since it not only acknowledged it, it regulated it. Paradoxically, the bible story of exodus was also used as inspiration to abolish slavery!

Christians represent 80% of the prison population. ...atheists, being a moderate proportion of the USA population (about 8-16%) are disproportionately less in the prison populations (0.21%)
 
ah

The History of Santa Claus then states that he proceeds to travel the lengths of the world in one night, delivering the toys by slipping down ones chimney and leaving them under the Christmas tree. This has presented much query among children in that Santa Claus is rumored to be overweight, so how does he squeeze down that chimney? To add gas to that questions fire, each good little boy and girl leaves cookies and milk to appease Mr. Claus. Of course the answer to all questions doubtful of Santa Claus' existence, is that he is magical and mysterious. That reason has kept mothers and fathers all over the world creating his image and presenting it to their Children, often times to be used as a tool to keep children on their best behavior all year long. For one does not desire to be a name on Mr. Claus' naughty list, the long history of Santa Claus and his lump of coal make this apparent.

ja
theistic morality
fortunately some of us grow up
accidentally of course
 
SAM

do you ever leave ur church or what? you really think athiests care for no one but themselves? Its called empathy and compassion. Christianity is a fear campaign, 'do the wrong thing and god'll find out! and then he'll send you to hell! cos he's a dickhead! Fear god! Fear god!'

Anyone who can't comprehend being nice to another person without being forced into it has serious issues. The benefits of being nice to everyone are easily observed.
 
Myles said:
So knowledge that doesn't bring happiness is of no value ? Is that a personal statement or a universal one ?
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It was not about value it was about helpfulness and I have difficulty to imagine something helpful if it does not bring happiness to the world (short term and long term)

please answer my questions:

ronan said:
Helpful in which sense?
Does it give happiness ?
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ronan said:
It was not about value it was about helpfulness and I have difficulty to imagine something helpful if it does not bring happiness to the world (short term and long term)

please answer my questions:
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Do you mean universal happiness or personal happiness . happiness for some but not others ?
 
It's a more accurate model of reality, therefore more useful. What we do with it could bring happiness or not.
 
ronan said:
Helpful in which sense?
Does it give happiness ?
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Helpful in the sense that they were aided in their efforts - they were attempting to gain more understanding, comprehension, even basic information, about matters of interest, and those approaches and tools helped them.

Whether that cured their erectile disfunction or showered meaning and purpose on their lives I don't know.
 
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