Are secular societies prone to moral decay?

[blue taylor]

What is your basis for making such claims? Can you actually provide authentic religious teachings that command believers to look down and oppress others?

"And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you" as "A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually" (Duet 28:33).

And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the Lord for destruction.2 Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. Joshua 6:17

But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded. Deuteronomy 20:16–17

"Do not take the Jews and Christians for friends" (Surah 5:51)

"..fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness" Surah 9:123)

"I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them" (Surah 8:12)

[Quran 8:12] Recall that your Lord inspired the angels: "I am with you; so support those who believed. I will throw terror into the hearts of those who disbelieved. You may strike them above the necks, and you may strike even every finger."

And behold, ha Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, i"Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon." But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away, for she is crying out after us." He answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

And of course we know several religions including christians practice shunning. Tithing adds to opression of the very poor who can not live off what they make before paying 10% to an already wealthy church. Evangelicals prey on those with weak minds by promising them life after death if they do what they tell them to do. The ignorant know no better. I saw a sign on the office door of a multi-million dollar Methodist church that said "We have no money for electric bills or food. Please don't ask." So much for "christian charity". As for government morality, see post 138.

 

[Astravalon]

Many people like to look at the secularization of Europe as an example of secularism's success in bringing about stability. My response to that is simply, "Take a closer look."

Would you rather move to Sweden or Afghanistan?

Do you still molest children?

You mean like they did in those notorious church
scandals?

Let's get specific for a moment. Evangelicals look at the moral decline in America and blame it on secularism as well as the removal of prayer in schools, etc..

True? False?

I say false.

For one thing, one can't outlaw prayer, as it can be
accomplished without anyone even knowing it's being
done. What can be outlawed is making a big show out of
the fact that prayer is taking place. What's ironic is that
the latter was discouraged by Jesus in his advice on how
to go about praying, yet some of his fans have a problem with
any law reflecting Jesus's clearly-stated wishes on the
matter.

For another, I don't think that the following of a moral
code is the answer. Empathy is the key, imo.



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[Demonslayer]

prayer, as it can be
accomplished without anyone even knowing it's being
done.

The best way to pray.

 

[McBell]

The best way to pray.

At least according to Jesus...

 

[LuisDantas]

First of all, what moral standards are you talking about? As far as I know there is no such thing as an objective moral standard.

There is some controversy on that. There are those who agree with you and there are those who (pointlessly IMO) claim that some deity provides objective moral standards.

I happen to think that objective morality does exist and must in fact exist, but getting a good understanding of it is neither a static nor a trivial matter. The morality of an act is a function of knowledge, information, rational capability and several other circunstances, and it seems to me that for whatever reason many people would rather not deal with so many variables.