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Originally Posted by Halx
One thing that always chaps my ass is the link between religion and morals. It just doesn't add up to me. Society is the source of morals. You cannot give religion credit for them because then you're failing to explain morals in atheism. Religion might have been necessary to harness civilization in old times where knowledge was scarce, but today it is no longer necessary.
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I think the moral system found in religion did arise out of those of society. Religion was and is a way of organizing them. It was and is an inquiry into morals, so to speak.
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Think about this: if all major religions have a standard base of morals, then we don't necessarily need to attribute those morals to the religions, but to society itself.
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True.
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Morals transcend religion. They are a part of human civilization.
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True.
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More than that, religions constantly adjust their acceptable moral code based on the trends of society - not the other way around. Follow any organized religion and you will see them making concession after concession as society evolves and human rights permeate our culture. Human rights are a secular conclusion - not religious.
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Religion has done this even before Christianity. I think this is why I agree that society is the source of morals, but religion organizes them.
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My argument is that you do not get anything unique out of religion aside from the placebo effect associated with belief in some omnipresent being looking out for you.
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I agree with this too. This is why I'm okay with being an atheist.
But I'm also okay with religion, and I don't see anything wrong with it in and of itself--if you consider the function at its most fundamental level: an organized system of morals.
Religion should be used to teach people how to live ethically. Any belief attached to it is of no consequence to us atheists.
"God" as a concept is much greater than a "milk jug" as a concept. We need to look beyond the "placebo" and see what other functions lie beneath.
Where do you get your own inner strength?