Atheism Cannot Rationally Explain Morals.

If altruistic behavior spreads the genes you are carrying, then it will be selected for. This is what altruistic behavior does. A good example are bee colonies. While the workers are sterile, their genes are still found in the queen, and the queen spreads the genes found in the worker bees due to their altruistic behavior.

No, that was Spenser as I recall. And obviously you have absolutely no clue what fitness is, so how could you possibly say anything meaningful about it.Evolution explain altruistic behavior quite well. Rather, it is the creationists and even Christianity itself that cannot explain altruistic behavior. If all your good acts and self-sacrifice for others are motivated by your angry god, by wanting to avoid its extreme punishments and earn its rewards, then you cannot possibly act altruistically. Your motivation for everything you do is complete and utter selfishness.Altruism is beyond the comprehension of creationists.

I don't think this is Dredge's point, but I'll go ahead and answer one of you points. Scientific theories are descriptive - they explain why the world is the way it is. They are not prescriptive - they don't tell us what are ethical decisions should be. Any "meaning" that can be taken from a scientific theory, if any, is up to the individual.Saying that the theory of evolution implies we should all act selfish is the same as saying the theory of gravity means we should all crawl on our bellies and live in valleys.Edited by Chiroptera, : Hit submit instead of preview.Edited by Chiroptera, : No reason given.Edited by Chiroptera, : Serious typo. Yikes!

Sexual? David, I don't know how you go about getting a banana inside you, but for most of us this is not a sexual act. See, I eat them. Are you by some chance sticking them up your arse?

Evolution is about survival of the species, not the individual. Any behaviour that advances the survival of other individuals in our species advances the survival of the species as a whole.There is also the obvious advantage that even if we do die as individuals, there are other members of our species, whom we have helped to survive, to help our offspring to survive.

Correct.And this is where grandparents and elders--past the reproduction age--can benefit their groups. Grandparents care for the young while parents are out hunting and gathering, and are often the most skilled at making baskets, stone tools, and a lot of other needed items. Elders carry and pass on the knowledge of the group.So, even though these individuals may no longer be reproducing they increase the chances for other members of the group to survive to do so.And this is all explained by anthropology and related fields of science.And I might add this is more important than passing down old folk tales about talking snakes and floods that didn't happen.

If I may be allowed to be pedantic, evolution is about certain gene combinations surviving into the next generation.Usually this is accomplished by the survival of the individual long enough to produce offspring. For some species, though, an individual making a sacrifice to help related individuals survive to reproduce can have the same effect.In either case, the result is the species thrives.

It is also worth mentioning that in human hunter/gatherer groups there is a good chance that the young are carrying the genes found in the elders, either through direct ancestry or through very close relatives. Even in cases of intraspecific competition there is still selection for altruistic behavior since the human groups who work well together within the group can outcompete lone humans or human groups that don't cooperate well together.

We also see a similar behavior in other species where individuals spend time protecting and nurturing the next generation of siblings. Scrub Jays often hang around and help raise the next generation or two of siblings. This behavior is preserved in the species because the older siblings will sometimes inherit their parent's territory and raise their own broods. Jays are smart birds and they benefit from the time spent hanging around learning useful parenting skills.Some jays strike out on their own and establish new territories. I am not sure if there have been studies measuring if the two groups have different levels of long-term success (reproductive longevity and success), but it seems like an obvious study.

Then explain altruistic behaviour in evolution theory.Quite demanding answers from others and refuse to answer anything from your god of evolution. !!!

Why should I waste my time explaining the same thing to you that everybody else has been telling you. You will just ignore me too. I need to pack for a period of extended travel starting today and you are nothing but a waste of effort. And that your religion has turned you into that is a condemnation of that religion. Apply the Matthew 7:20 to your religion -- HINT: you are wicked fruit.In evolutionary theory, getting your genes represented in subsequent generations is the basic game. If you sacrifice yourself to ensure the survival of your children, then that gets your genes into subsequent generations. If you sacrifice yourself to ensure the survival of your siblings' children, then the outcome is the same -- HINT: they share your genes. Same for your cousins and their children. Same for members of your tribe and for the tribe itself, since tribes have traditionally been peopled by kin. Even when the concept of tribe has been extended beyond kinship, working to preserve the tribe also helps ensure the survival of your kin who depend on that tribe for survival -- that is also an evolutionary basis for morality.In contrast, in Christianity there is no basis for morality because it serves no other purpose than to appease an arbitrary and angry god. And because your entire theology is about seeking eternal reward and avoiding eternal punishment, there is no basis in Christianity for altruism and it is impossible for a Christian to be altruistic because of his theology. However, since a Christian is a human who has the same evolutionary history of normals, a Christian can indeed engage in altruistic acts only because he is human, not because he's a Christian.Now please pull your head out and stop ignoring what everybody has been trying to tell you. But of course you will just ignore this as well.

quote:

---

In evolutionary biology, an organism is said to behave altruistically when its behaviour benefits other organisms, at a cost to itself. The costs and benefits are measured in terms of reproductive fitness, or expected number of offspring.

​

Biological Altruism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

---

Oh, and you're welcome.Anything else we can help you with Davidjay? Perhaps this link will also be of assistance:English Grammar for Dummies Cheat Sheet
English Grammar For Dummies Cheat Sheet - dummies

Jhn 15:13
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.Not to mention all the commands about self-denial, dying to self, loving your enemies, doing good to those who persecute you, doing the extra mile, making yourself a living sacrifice, loving your neighbor as yourself and so onEdited by Faith, : No reason given.

"And Samuel said to Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ (1 Sam 15:1‑3)God ordained genocide. Nuff said.

But dwise1's point is that insofar as you're doing this for Christian reasons, you're doing this for selfish reasons, to suck up to God. As can be seen from the fact that if God told you to kill your enemies (as he does from time to time in the Bible) you would in principle do that instead. Or indeed if he told you to kill your friends and family. Abraham didn't get all famous by saying "No Lord, I won't kill my son just to please you, that wouldn't be altruistic".