Atheist morality

If you try to be honest, you tend to meet a lot of honest people.If you are dishonest you will meet a lot of dishonest people.Morality is not a belief, but what we do each day.This message has been edited by AdminPhat, 03-24-2005 04:26 AM

What's the difference between "honest" and "open" ? I'd say, when I'm honest but not open, I tend to meet the same people as when I'm dishonest and not open.But when I'm honest and open, I tend to get taken advantage of. I was just 'lecturing' about this about 20 minutes ago...I truly believe this is the difference between "explicit" knowledge and "implicit" knowledge. Morality is not a set of rules. Socrates was wrong to judge that those who could not state what morality and judgement is didn't "know" what it is. I agree with you. True morality is not based on rules. It is an implicit system. It is not a belief, but what we do.Ben

No, let's not kid the good believers. I distinctly remember the day I realized there was no God.Suddenly a black void opened up beneath me. It seemed to stretch into an endless, yawning abyss, swallowing up all that was good and pure in the world. At that moment, I realized there could not possibly be any reason to act as a basically decent human being.I ran out immediately and forcibly sodomized a nun and two puppies, simply because they were there. I derived no pleasure from this act... how can one truly know joy without the warming light of God shining upon their lives? But when I was finished, I still killed them, and used their tanned hides to make the condoms for the vicious sodomizing I bestowed upon Girl Scout Troop #571 the following day.The Girl Scouts were against it at first, but when I explained my reasoning, the dark cloud of non-belief spread over them like a plague. They instantly turned from good ten-year-old Christians to a hate-maddened swarm of Maenads, indulging their carnal thirsts in a blood-soaked orgy of fear, self-loathing, and bile. No less than twelve people died in their rampage across the Greater Chicagoland Area, and many more are still in intensive care.Finally they turned on me, tearing my head from my shoulders, hollowing it out, and taking turns using it as a toilet.I'm rather upset by all this, to be sure. But when I stopped believing in God, what else could have happened?Morality doesn't come from our actions in life; it's an arbitrary set of rules handed down from an ethereal father figure. If you're ever tempted to think that humans have the capacity to make their own decisions regarding right and wrong, please remember my little tale... before it's too late.

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"You can't expect him to be answering your prayers when he's not real, can you? That's like writing to the characters of a soap opera and expecting a reply, Mr. Silly Sausage!"
-Jane Christie

Can I get a big Amen!

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Glad the medics were able to save the body. sorry about the head.LOL

You can be honest and open without being naive.

Would you say that morality is also what I watch each day? What I think about each day?
Even what I joke about? By other honest and open people, naturally. morality= moral conduct : virtue
implicit=1 : understood though not directly stated or expressed : implied; also : potential 2 : complete, unquestioning, absolute <~ faith> implicitly adv
explicit= clearly and precisely expressed explicitly adv explicitness
My belief is that I will never be as moral as I believe the standard is. The standard is Christ, and I will never be Christ. I can choose to allow Christ to influence me internally, hopefully causing my external behavior to come into line. Whew! I repent for having declared that I stay around this board due to your humor, Dan. Back to morality. It is our actions. How do you make your decisions regarding right and wrong if you ain't got no Daddy? You may be a big boy, now..but you are responsible for what you know. Often, Mr. Silly Sausage wants to do things that Mr. Carroll knows not to do. I never knew that you used to believe in Him, Dan.
Should the Comedian talk to the girl scouts or should the wannabe Pastor? What we really need is a funny Pastor who likes overpriced cookies! But it all gets back to what we do. My addendum is that what we think about and watch can influence what we do.Or did the kid that went on a rampage in Minnesota watch Pat Boone videos every day? This message has been edited by Phatboy, 03-24-2005 04:31 AM

You know, Adolf Hitler killed millions of Jews and others, and back in his day all they had was the radio and books.I've been playing fantasy RPG games since a friend of mine let me play Chrono Trigger on his SNES. Somehow I never had a desire to buckle up my sword belt and lay waste to my high school, despite the fact that the only person lower on the social totem pole than me was the girl with severe epilepsy. I don't think what people play or are exposed to has any bearing on what they're likely to do; maybe just on how they're likely to do it.

I can see how that would drive someone to such a rampage.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Do you actually know what "the kid"'s habits were?Several years ago in Tennessee there was a school shooting - I think the result was one death and one injury, plus the shooter's suicide. A teacher at the school was heavily criticized afterwards because the shooter had been submitting bizarre writing assignments laced with scripture and violence.The shooter referred to himself in his writings as "a fiery angel of God". He attended Church and Bible study on a regular basis.Should we blame Christianity and the Bible for their immoral influence in this case?Why is it that the rooms of school shooters are scoured for Judas Priest, Marilyn Manson, and Dungeons & Dragons, all the while ignoring that Bible sitting on their bookshelf? After all, the latter contains as much violent imagery...

There are extremists and deluded psychotics in every subculture.I will admit that right wing fanatics are some of the worst nutjobs, and if a kid is repressed and also mentally ill, he/she could explode!There is a spiritual war within the collective psyche of humanity.Yes, that is my belief statement, and that statement is enough for people to watch ME warily! What is so safe about human derived logic, however? You ARE aware that psychiatrists and psychologists (human trained and educated) have the highest suicide rates of any profession. Higher than clergy, for sure.This message has been edited by Phatboy, 03-24-2005 04:37 AM

This is just me personally. Do onto others as they would have done onto me. In other words, I am going to die a happy man when christians are no longer allowed to get married. That's my morality.

The problem is not naivete; it's that, in order to be honest and open, you have to expose things that others can (and do) take advantage of. That happens whether you're naive to what people will do with it or not.The only solution I know of is to be dishonest or to be guarded. I don't know of any way to be open and honest, yet not be taken advantage of. If you do, I'd appreciate to hear about it.

i feel the need to step in and say that, even as a christian, my morality is not affected in the slightest by my religion.in fact, it's the other way around. i believe in jesus because i agree with his morals.

If your religion does not affect your morality, then what influence does it have in your life?For most religious people that I have met, thier belief is central to their morality.You have expressed a POV that seems unique to you, I am quite interested.Spcheck by PBThis message has been edited by AdminPhat, 03-24-2005 04:39 AM