Morality is determined by culture. That's it. There's no more to it than that.
Some people want to claim it is religion that creates morals and without it we have none. Religion is simply one part of some cultures; it doesn't exist in others. It's just one piece of the very complex puzzle of human behavior, and it's never static. That is just the way it is. Deal with it.
For those who want to claim that there is some ultimate moral code handed down from just one of the ancient Hebrew deities, the god in question first needs to show up. Being invisible and only communicating through hallucinations and ghost writers is not anywhere near a valid claim to even consider worthwhile.
In addition, why would it be the case that any creature, deified or not, would have some sort of ultimate (and currently secret) moral code that everyone should support? There's no logical reason to assert that any creature has such a list and that it wouldn't be riddled with flaws that would offend large numbers of other creatures, such as humans.
We have to live with the fact that we are the ones who set our own rules. We create the cultures under which we exist. Any faults found are with us, as are the benefits. There is no group of atheists that advocate or even consider pedophilia as a viable cultural option, for example, even though there are believer types who insist otherwise. These kinds of people also like to claim a moral need for all kinds of information not being examined, such as sex education. Not discussing things is what gets us in trouble. Abstinence-only "education" for kids actually increases unwanted pregnancies. But believers don't look at the results. The only goal seems to be supporting the bad idea that started the idea in the first place.
Information is good--all kinds of information. Myths and superstitions don't qualify, however. We need facts and that requires investigation. If we want a moral code of some kind, maybe that's it: Never believe, investigate--and never stop.
Some people want to claim it is religion that creates morals and without it we have none. Religion is simply one part of some cultures; it doesn't exist in others. It's just one piece of the very complex puzzle of human behavior, and it's never static. That is just the way it is. Deal with it.
For those who want to claim that there is some ultimate moral code handed down from just one of the ancient Hebrew deities, the god in question first needs to show up. Being invisible and only communicating through hallucinations and ghost writers is not anywhere near a valid claim to even consider worthwhile.
In addition, why would it be the case that any creature, deified or not, would have some sort of ultimate (and currently secret) moral code that everyone should support? There's no logical reason to assert that any creature has such a list and that it wouldn't be riddled with flaws that would offend large numbers of other creatures, such as humans.
We have to live with the fact that we are the ones who set our own rules. We create the cultures under which we exist. Any faults found are with us, as are the benefits. There is no group of atheists that advocate or even consider pedophilia as a viable cultural option, for example, even though there are believer types who insist otherwise. These kinds of people also like to claim a moral need for all kinds of information not being examined, such as sex education. Not discussing things is what gets us in trouble. Abstinence-only "education" for kids actually increases unwanted pregnancies. But believers don't look at the results. The only goal seems to be supporting the bad idea that started the idea in the first place.
Information is good--all kinds of information. Myths and superstitions don't qualify, however. We need facts and that requires investigation. If we want a moral code of some kind, maybe that's it: Never believe, investigate--and never stop.
No comments:
Post a Comment