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Religion
In reply to the discussion: The two big things I think religion provides that secularism does not. [View all]Moonwalk
(2,322 posts)9. In regards to acting ethically (Point 1), you state:
As an atheist, I have to accept that sometimes doing the right thing is not going to be rewarded. I've heard Richard Dawkins argue that this means that only atheists are genuinely capable of ethical behaviour - for the religious it's just a form of deferred self-interested. I'm not sure I buy that...
Certainly religious folk can act ethically not because they fear hell, but because they want to emulate their god(s) and act as those god(s) did (Jesus taking care of the poor, for example).
But then, then the non-religious can do the same. How many of us have said, "I take my example from Ghandi" or Martin Luther King, jr. Atheism doesn't mean that we cut ourselves off from having heroes or role models. We simply don't believe such are magical or supernatural. We may even admire and emulate fictional characters. I know an atheist who loves Superman and often tries to do brave, heroic acts because of that. Does he believe Superman is real? No. He's well aware Superman is fictional. Does that make a difference whether he uses that character as a role model? Not at all.
You are wrong that atheists haven't any reason to act ethically. They have, on the point of role models, the same reason as the religious. They just don't cast the role model in the same "magical" light as the religious. That's point 1 on secularists being ethical (or not ethical) as the religious.
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The two big things I think religion provides that secularism does not. [View all]
Donald Ian Rankin
May 2013
OP
It is interesting you only consider the "positive" things that you believe religion brings,
trotsky
May 2013
#1
I believe religion brings many negative things, which are more than adequately discussed elsewhere.
Donald Ian Rankin
May 2013
#3
JMHO, but I think most of the religious people who post on DU avoid this group like the plague.
cbayer
May 2013
#14
I believe the relevant saying here is "first cast out the beam out of thine own eye". N.T.
Donald Ian Rankin
May 2013
#70
How utterly insulting to condemn my post without bothering to read it.
Donald Ian Rankin
May 2013
#6
You think it's rare for an atheist to do the right thing because it's the right thing to do?
Iggo
May 2013
#77
If I had said that, rather than saying exactly the reverse, I would have been wrong.
Donald Ian Rankin
May 2013
#11
i don't know that "demand" is the right word. most modern religions HAVE moral codes
unblock
May 2013
#16
many modern religions don't have language that strong, certainly not in practice.
unblock
May 2013
#26
It is obviously not "moral behavior" that gets one damned for eternity.
Warren Stupidity
May 2013
#39
Oh, and your assumption is that without religion people would eat their babies.
Warren Stupidity
May 2013
#22
i disagree that religion "provides" a moral code. it claims a moral code as its own.
unblock
May 2013
#24
The answer to 'why behave ethically' might turn out to be 'because it benefits you directly'.
Bluenorthwest
May 2013
#34
If an atheist desires living in an ethical world, then that atheist has a really good, secular
ZombieHorde
May 2013
#36
I'm intrigued by questions of what sociological and psychological roles religion plays
LiberalAndProud
May 2013
#58
As to your first point, that's an argument that demonstrates the ethical superiority...
Humanist_Activist
May 2013
#68