[MD] Christendom's place in the MOQ

[Steve Peterson]

Hi Platt,

>>> Platt, you asked:
>>>
>>> All of which raises the question: Is Christian morality also an
>>> intellectual level morality? --
>>
Steve:
>> If what you are talking about the Golden Rule, aka the ethics of
>> reciprocity I would agree. Why would anyone take me seriously if I do
>> to them what I say that I don't want done to me? This is an exteremly
>> rational approach to morality. In fact, virtually every
>> culture/religion has developed it's own articulation of this moral
>> strategy. See http://www.religioustolerance.org/reciproc.htm
> Platt:
> The Golden Rule takes many forms and has been, as you say, found in one
> form another in almost every culture. In fact, I recall some Darwinists
> saying the "ethics of reciprocity" is an inherited trait since some 
> higher
> animals have been observed to behave that way, e.g, "You scratch my 
> back
> and I'll scratch yours." Whether we can call that "rational" is an open
> question. Perhaps "expedient" would be more accurate.
>
Steve:
I brought up the ethics of reciprocity because I could not think of 
what else you could be thinking of in saying that Christian morality 
may be intellectual. If you don't see the Golden Rule as rational, what 
else about Christian morality could be thought of as intellectual?


Steve:
>> However, Christians generally view morality as trying not to anger
>> their god rather than in terms of trying to find ways of promoting
>> human flourishing or promoting the evolution of static patterns toward
>> dynamic quality. So I would say that Christian ethics may often be
>> consistent with an intellectual approach to morality, but it is based
>> on authority, a social pattern, rather than intellect.
> Platt:
> Good point about authority being a social pattern. As a practical 
> matter, I
> wonder if moral guidelines aren't more efficacious when based on
> accountability to the authority of God rather than rely on the 
> authority of
> some SOM intellectual atheist who says that's what nice people do.

Steve:
I think you'd have a hard time finding any data supporting the 
hypothesis that believers are better behaved than atheists even by 
believer's moral standards regarding crime, teenage pregnancy, child 
molestation, etc. In fact, countries that are the most atheistic tend 
to have the lowest crime rates, highest literacy rates, least poverty, 
etc.

It looks like teaching children to care about other people can work at 
least as well as teaching kids to fear invisible gods.

Regards,
Steve