Follow Up Post
I just remembered something that I wanted to say in the Pascal's Wager post but I had, at the time, forgotten. It is on the topic of where one would get his/her morals.If you have no religion or are an Atheist, where would your set of values com from? From your heart? I think not, you can't just follow what you feel, that leads to things like the murdering of millions of babies and more atrocious things.
Even if you believed in an inncorrect religion, you would still probably have a good set of values (excepting satanism and the like); and even if you don't like the supernatural beliefs of a religion, you should at least understand that it leads to more moral people. In some studies, it has even been shown that the crime rate of religious people is far less than that of the non-religion, proportionatly.
Now if you still don't believe or agree with what I have just said, then think about this. Generally, human beings like to be comforted, and like to be shown the path; we like to think we know what is going on around us, and religion helps us with this. Overall, I'm glad the general population has something to believe in, something to be sure of. If we didn't have this, we would be a much different society.
Fighting for truth, justice, and the capitalistic way
posted by YoungRightWinger @ 8:04 PM Link to this Post
2 Comments:
"If you have no religion or are an Atheist, where would your set of values com from? From your heart? I think not, you can't just follow what you feel, that leads to things like the murdering of millions of babies and more atrocious things."
That's interesting that you are a capitalist when it comes to economics, but you don't believe in the laws of self-interest when it comes to morals.
Basically to behave morally as an Atheist functions the same way as believing in a free market system in economics. In a capitalist system, if an employer regularly abuses his employees, or over-charges for his products, the employees will look for work elsewhere and consumers will look for alternative products. It is the same with behavior. On the level of human action, if you are a not so nice person, you aren't going to have a lot of friends, and life will be more difficult. You are basically behaving in a certain way out of self-interest.
Here are some links if you are interested:
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v2n1/samaritan.html
http://philosophy.lander.edu/ethics/egoism_topics.html
I have had this discussion often with religious friends, and they have difficulty understanding that religion doesn't have the monopoly on moral behavior. It is also possible to behave morally, without believing in some kind of ultimate punishment for misbehavior. I am interested in the here and now, and making my life on Earth as pleasant as possible. And as for Pascal's Wager, I would have to say that if a God should exist, why would he be so angry about someone not believing in him, if this person would have nevertheless lead a very moral life?
I'm not saying that you can't behave morally if you are an Atheist or have no religion, I don't think I even implied that.
But economic capitalism is a little different I think. Before I say what I am going to say, know that I am not saying that these particular people are non-religious, I'm just trying to make a point.
I see many people at school who are content just making other's lives harder, and in return, that person will be made to have a life twice as hard, but this never changes the way they act. And I agree with you, this is their problem, and if they want to be happy, they have to fix it. When you fail economically, a capitalist society would force you to change, or you will die. Some people have such HUGE self-interest, that I makes them not care what others' think. That's the difference I see.
I don't think religion has a monopoly on moral behavior, but I do think that it is EASIER to have moral behavior when you have a religion. You have the same deterents that non-religious people have plus the religious ones.
As for your comment on Pascal's Wager, either way, if you lead a moral life I don't see a reason not to believe in God. Why God would be angry? I do not want to speak for what's going on in his thoughts. But the Pascal's Wager post didn't even talk at all about moral values, it just talked about believing.
Thanks for your thoughtful comments, and I liked your posts about us on your blog :-)
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