tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716347331682132223.post4671001875807174585..comments2023-10-20T02:08:39.524-07:00Comments on Atheism: Proving The Negative: Incoherent: I Believe Because It Makes Me a Moral PersonMatt McCormickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17071078570021986664noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716347331682132223.post-19430703322570123252012-07-31T14:52:37.678-07:002012-07-31T14:52:37.678-07:00Also i would like to add that the environment and ...Also i would like to add that the environment and social context also have a lot to do with people's beliefs. To abound on this let's take a well educated nation, with a well-functioning justice system like Switzerland and compare it to a developing country with a lot of corruption problems and violence and with serious problems in the justice system like Mexico. In the first case for every attempt of mocking justice there is punishment not because of fear of god but because all the institutions and society converge in the belief that social interactions need to be regulated by the society itself (in the form of laws and social conventions to which everyone has to obey). But, what happens when there is a weak institutional enforcement of aberrant behavior in the second case? There are no social consequences for bad behavior and these doings become common in the members of the society. In the advent of these circumstances the only path that many people find is to look up and pray to an imaginary entity that would fulfill their lack of justice and wellness. And so, the contribution of these factors are correlated to the “believeness” of people, and this is why we find a lot more atheist people in well educated nations that in any place else. I’m not trying to justify their beliefs simply I thought it was worth mentioning it.Julio Castañedahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04876998449498899024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716347331682132223.post-55966709480436675412007-06-11T13:37:00.000-07:002007-06-11T13:37:00.000-07:00This kind of argument just demonstrates what kind ...This kind of argument just demonstrates what kind of people are attracted to theism -- people that crave control and restraint.<BR/><BR/>Are we surprised by this? No.<BR/><BR/>Look at the wild-eyed critters of Middle America and the Middle East -- these folks really do need some kind of powerful exterior restraint -- because obviously their own will power isn't enough.<BR/><BR/>A lot of this is just cultural nonsense: people are raised to think that they need theism or government (or whatever) in order to be good.<BR/><BR/>Unfortunately, we have a lot of mentally unstable people in the world as well, and reason is a poor tool for the insane -- some of these people seem to really need some external forces to control them.<BR/><BR/>So what is the best answer for these kinds of people? Prison? The military? The asylum? God?<BR/><BR/>I vote for the university.<BR/><BR/>;)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716347331682132223.post-86298757287909563462007-06-05T17:52:00.000-07:002007-06-05T17:52:00.000-07:00It seems to me that our natural tendencies are not...It seems to me that our natural tendencies are not as evil as portrayed by religion, the bible, belief in God(s), etc. While it may be true that many people are out of control when it comes to bodily and cognitive urges and desires, and that if some of those people were to find Jesus they may become less sinful or more in control, it doesn't follow that belief in God could fix all of this. I personally believe morality to be a sort of natural code that we derive from actual consequences within our lives. Not from potential consequences of eternal damnation or suffering. To me, morality seems to be very circumstantial and situational. Is it wrong always to kill? What if someone is trying to kill you and the one's you love? What if the only way to stop them is to kill them? Is it always wrong to steal? What if you are a staving family whose earned food was stolen from you? Is it wrong to steal it back? Is it wrong to do drugs? Perhaps only if your sick? What about caffeine? Alcohol? Is it wrong to kill oneself? What if you have made the conscious, reasonable choice to do so? Acting in a moral fashion should be dependent on actual consequences and be measured as such from past occurrences and instances of good/bad outcomes. Believing in God to make oneself a moral person seems like a forced move. Nature possesses enough consequences to make me wary of committing immoral acts as well as to understand that immoral acts are wrong. As stated above, morality , to me, is very circumstantial. This may seem to complicate cases in which one could be walking the gray line between moral and immoral, but I think we as humans have the capacity to deal with it. Forcing belief in God in hopes of magically becoming moral seems like a very easy way out of some very difficult questions that need grappling with. This may have not to do with the subject at hand, but it is what came to my mind after reading this blog...err...ya. Aloha.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716347331682132223.post-13059570949177960152007-06-04T00:36:00.000-07:002007-06-04T00:36:00.000-07:00Many years ago when I was having doubts about cert...Many years ago when I was having doubts about certain beliefs that I had, I had a discussion with a serious believer. I kept raising doubts and questions, and he kept thumbing through the bible and trying to answer my questions and doubts. Finally out of frustration he said "Jon, I would be a wild, wild, person without this." At that time a thought accured to me that something was wrong with that answer. The consequences of psychologizing belief are interesting. All the time people tell me nonchalantly how christian or whatever they are in a given context, but when I nonchalantly tell them what I am in that same context, it makes them pause in serious discomfort. Maybe because they know that it is immoral for me to go to a burning hell forever, and it psychologically questions their belief.Jonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02877962468047811190noreply@blogger.com