by jimwalton » Thu Oct 31, 2019 3:41 pm
I'm a Christian, and I think it's very possible to have morality without religion. There are lots of good people who are good because they want to be or choose to be, apart from any religious belief.
I also agree that some expressions of morality change from era to era or culture to culture. I'm fine with that. But I also believe that there are some things that are always (and universally considered wrong). Killing children for the fun of it is universally wrong. There is no society anywhere, no sane individual, no government in all of history that claims killing children for the fun of it is right. Some kill children as religious cultic sacrifices, some in genocide, some in warfare, some for convenience (abortion), and who knows what all else. Sometimes killing is justified and justifiable. But no one thinks that killing children for fun is right. Another one: no one thinks that torturing babies for the fun of it is right. No person, no society in history, no culture on the globe.
> Why is it then impossible to reason other moral issues without texts like the Bible?
It's not impossible, but the moral teachings of the Bible have been recognized by philosophers, ethicists, theologians, politicians, and commoners alike for millennia.
I'm a Christian, and I think it's very possible to have morality without religion. There are lots of good people who are good because they want to be or choose to be, apart from any religious belief.
I also agree that some expressions of morality change from era to era or culture to culture. I'm fine with that. But I also believe that there are some things that are always (and universally considered wrong). Killing children for the fun of it is universally wrong. There is no society anywhere, no sane individual, no government in all of history that claims killing children for the fun of it is right. Some kill children as religious cultic sacrifices, some in genocide, some in warfare, some for convenience (abortion), and who knows what all else. Sometimes killing is justified and justifiable. But no one thinks that killing children for fun is right. Another one: no one thinks that torturing babies for the fun of it is right. No person, no society in history, no culture on the globe.
> Why is it then impossible to reason other moral issues without texts like the Bible?
It's not impossible, but the moral teachings of the Bible have been recognized by philosophers, ethicists, theologians, politicians, and commoners alike for millennia.