Religion
In reply to the discussion: The Problem with Religious Moderates [View all]trotsky
(49,533 posts)So thanks for the quote, it supports my position pretty well!
There are only two options when it comes to the central question, by the way. Either we include in our morality calculations the opinion of a god (partly or entirely), or we do not. So what do you think - does god's opinion matter? Let me know what your answer to that is.
You are right in that some people use religion to argue that one "needs" to do this because they believe "God" has ordered it, but such fanatacism is itself a problem, and whether the individual is offering an appeal to God, the state, or "progress," an absence of liberty is rarely something to celebrate.
There are many people who say we need assistance programs for the poor because their god wants it. Are they fanatics?
And actually, the "cosmic dictator decree" affects us all when the people who support said position have an influence on the government that makes laws for everyone. I need only to point to a few blue laws, or the Bush ban on stem cell research, for current real-world examples.
I would qualify your last statement that evolutionary theory is not used to support those ideas on the large scale that it once was, but on an individual basis, I think the practice is alive and well.
But god's still being used on a large scale. Ever heard of the RCC?