Discuss:Ethics, Behavior, World-view:All Humans are "bad"; therefore, Someone else has to think for them.
From da Vinci Concept
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All Humans are "bad"; therefore, Someone else has to think for them.
Truc_Ha - Sun Aug 8 7:33:55 2004
This idea comes in many flavors: simply substitute for "bad" some other negative attribute such as "sinful," "lazy," or "ignorant," and you get the ideologies underlying dictatorial government, oppressive parents, poorly designed computer operating systems, and guilt-stricken religion, among many other things.
The corollary is one of the most dangerous ideas human beings have ever subscribed to. It is so fundamentally anti-humanistic that I can only describe it as toxic because it rejects outright the fact that each and every human being has a mind, that we can think, that we are active agents in our life, fully capable of the complex calculation involved in choosing our path from moment to moment.
How can people believe in this? I am outraged.
[ Edited ]
--Truc_Ha Sun Aug 8 7:33:55 2004
Truc_Ha - Sun Aug 8 7:38:59 2004
Ethics and Religion
How can one subscribe to this and believe that ethics should be handed down by God? Aren't you capable of formulating your own moral code in accordance to the reality you live in and make your own choices day by day? And isn't that what you are doing anyway, only those who are religious blame their god or their church for the many instances where those morals don't correspond to reality and absolve themselves of their own guilt?
And what is "sin" anyway? Yes I know the various dictionary definitions, but in all honesty I do not know sin. It is a concept that does not exist in my world because it is faulty. I know what mistakes are, and I look for them and I correct them to the best of my fully aware ability. But why pound your chest over a mistake because you have violated the word of God when you can simply correct it, learn not to make it again, and get on with life.
Did I ever tell you I feel sorry for Jesus Christ? No, not because they nailed him to a cross. For having such crazy students that they turned him into a God and now he's being blamed for ethics that don't make sense, church politics, the actions of Americans around the globe, and more. Or rather, his name is being used as a front which amounts to the same thing. Can you imagine having hordes of people going Crusading off to kill and conquer in your name? If it were me, I'd rather be dead too!
--Truc_Ha Sun Aug 8 7:38:59 2004
TheLiberal Fri Sep 28 9:38:55 2007
Calm yourself, Truc_Ha. I agree with much of what you say in these matters, but I know what it is like to be religious, having once been catholic, and I can tell you that they do not apreciate this. Why should they? They shouldn't, but you will not change any christian minds by raving at them and telling them the entire belief system they grew up with is wrong. I'm afraid that approach does not find many converts.
On a side note, frustrating, isn't it? I find that many christians have been taught their beliefs from birth, and a child never questions his parents. But these people that are christian adults have good minds, just the same as yours, and the trick is to instill in them the value of asking questions.
So, ask them. Teach them by example, that the key to living is by questioning our own beliefs, and that the questioning never ends. I am not saying you are wrong, by any means. But there is no proof that you are right, so the only thing to do if you are truly consistent is to examine your own beliefs, and examine them some more. And when you can examine them no longer, examine that, and find out why. Let others join you in your examining, your questioning, and teach them how to question. For, the best way teach is not by superiority, but by doubt.
--TheLiberal See above date.
