zen_tom

I haven't heard that one before, but I'd like to be able to quote it to those 'god hates fags' baptists - Not that it would make them any more reasonable Christians, people or otherwise.

There are many people who follow a religion, nationality, football team, pub, brand, company or games console for no reason other than that they are exposed to [it] at some time in their life. [It] fills a hole and provides a sense of identity and community.

Not everyone thinks about the implications or remifications of their beliefs - in fact very few people want or even care to. Christianity may be as successfull as it is because it allows those who are not interested in philosophy to leave all the thinking up to Bishops and Priests, and be told what is right or wrong by them in the same way a Doctor tells us to stop smoking, or loose weight, or lower our blood pressure. Healthy spiritual living and healthy physical living are not too distant from one another - over indulgence leads to self harm, both spiritually and mentally.

BTW: This isn't a dig at Christianity or Christians, I know and understand that there are many who intently and deeply think about and consider everything about the world from within their religious framework

The idea of a moral, or absolute right or wrong is a nice way of simplifying a difficult concept so that your average Joe can understand it. If you went to the Doctor about a cold and he started talking about the way a virus enters a cell and translates its genetic code into the host, causing it to replicate the virus' code over and over again, which causes changes to various passageways in your nose and triggers the release of enzymes and hormone levels in your system, and how they delicately interact with one another to in turn effect the sugar and salt levels in your blood which in turn might effect...etc...etc...You might stop listening - However, if he says, take 2 aspirin before bed - you're happy.