[MD] The Moral Landscape

[Steven Peterson]

Hi Platt,


Platt:
> Today's NYTimes has an interesting article entitled, "Morals Without God?" The
> author, a biologist, writes:
>
> "It is impossible to know what morality would be like without religion. It
> would require a visit to a human culture that is not now and never was
> religious. That such cultures do not exist should give us pause."
>
> Some cultures come very close to being "without religion." Their contribution
> to human well-being is somewhat less than Harris would approve. North Korea
> comes to mind. And looking back at cultures without religion in the 20th
> century -- "The horror!"  Concentration camps, gulags, the Great Leap Forward --
> those are just the tip of the human misery from "rational" social policies,
> exceeding by far the suffering caused in the name of religion.
>
> The author concludes with this observation:
>
> "Any framework we develop to advocate a certain moral outlook is bound to
> produce its own list of principles, its own prophets, and attract its own
> devoted followers, so it will soon look like any old religion."
>
> A cautionary note lest our approval of Pirsig, Harris or any other
> "rationalist" becomes a cult.


Steve:
I haven't been following moq,org for a while. Did I miss the part
where you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? It is my
understanding that you don't accept the truth of any of the world's
religions, yet you seem to be arguing here that religion is
nevertheless necessary. Necessary for _other_ people. You seem to
think that you are defending religious people, but on the contrary,
your view is entirely condescending towards them. You see them as
dangerous children who need religion to keep them under control so
they don't turn into Pol Pots. Though you don't believe in virgin
births, living gods, and the like, you think that it is good for other
people to believe such falsehoods. Maybe you are right (I don't think
so) but let's at least be clear about which one of us is treating
religious people as responsible selves who have worth as individuals
and would prefer not to be deceived about the world and which one of
us treats human beings as sheep who need comforting falsehoods. Unless
I missed something and you have recently found Jesus, then your
so-called respect for faith is no more than condescension.