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Labeling children as a member of a particular religion is immoral

icehorse

......unaffiliated...... anti-dogmatist
Premium Member
1robin said:
Can you prove without appealing to the transcendent that killing every form of life in the universe is actually wrong?

As far as I know, EVERY philosophy or moral code or religion depends on a few axioms, from which the rest is built. So you say that it's god that provides the morals, and I'd say it's more like evolution, but they are both assumptions.
 

Rick O'Shez

Irishman bouncing off walls
IOW you have no idea how it could possibly be true but have as non-theists must made your self God and confused you preference and opinion with an objective truth. You cannot possibly know something that cannot possibly be true unless God exists, unless he does, and even then it is merely possible for you to know and not guaranteed.

Like I said, for your reasoning to be correct all atheists would be mass murderers because they haven't got God to tell them that murder is wrong. Clearly that isn't the case, and clearly morality is a human construct. So your reasoning is wrong.
 

metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist
Basically all social organisms have "morality", which is logical since there has to be some order for there to be a functioning society. However, that doesn't mean that there aren't "deviants" within these societies as there very much are in most cases. Even though religion can no doubt expand or even go against the given morality, nevertheless it's still there, often in terms of instinct/reflexes and cultural selection.
 

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
Ok, but if I was incorrect I have no idea what you said actually means.
It means just what I said, not whatever motivations you assume are behind what I said.

You've complicated things a bit here. This is not exactly what I said. BTW why will none of you ever answer my question? Like you did here all I get is equivocation or a return question from non-theists. Never an answer.
I'm not going to answer until we address the booby traps in your question. If you don't like this approach, then stop asking booby-trapped questions.

1. What is morally true or binding on an infinite being with perfect for knowledge is different from what is binding on beings with extremely finite knowledge. God would know the full moral implications of his acts where we never can. IOW God perfectly knows the guilt of every human who ever existed. We very rarely know the true guilt of anyone. So taking life without any justification would always be objectively wrong but only God could have certain knowledge of the justification for taking life, we cannot.
So... you're operating from the assumption that someone who knew the full moral implications of the act could come to the realization that killing everyone might actually good. If that's part of your premises, then any argument that killing everyone is wrong - whether we assume God or not - is going to be logically contradictory.

2. You seem to have what I said either confused so badly it no longer relates to it or perhaps have it backwards. What I said was:
A. Only with God is taking life without justification wrong.
B. So if God exists then if we destroyed all life on earth without justification we would be perfectly wrong.
C. If he does not exist and we did so we may be held accountable to the opinions of others but would have done nothing actually wrong.
What do you mean by "actually wrong"? What do you think makes right or wrong "actual"?

So let me ask this for maybe the 30th time and see if I can get an answer.

Can you prove without appealing to the transcendent that killing every form of life in the universe is actually wrong?
You tell me. Morality is concerned with the well-being of sentient beings. Would killing every form of life in the universe help or hurt the overall well-being of sentient beings?
 

1robin

Christian/Baptist
It strikes me that you pursue a philosophy that assumes a god. No problem, lots of people do. But for us atheists, it's just another philosophy, and it doesn't have any special status.
What I pursue was not the issue. My claim was what the nature of morality MUST be if what I purse is true or if it is not. I am not arguing for whether it is true or not. As to whether it is just another philosophy or not I will others answer that.

"The character of Jesus has not only been the highest pattern of virtue, but the strongest incentive to its practice, and has exerted so deep an influence, that it may be truly said, that the simple record of three short years of active life has done more to regenerate and to soften mankind, than all the disquisitions of philosophers and than all the exhortations of moralists."
William Lecky One of Britain’s greatest secular historians.

He was the meekest and lowliest of all the sons of men, yet he spoke of coming on the clouds of heaven with the glory of God. He was so austere that evil spirits and demons cried out in terror at his coming, yet he was so genial and winsome and approachable that the children loved to play with him, and the little ones nestled in his arms. His presence at the innocent gaiety of a village wedding was like the presence of sunshine. No one was half so compassionate to sinners, yet no one ever spoke such red hot scorching words about sin. A bruised reed he would not break, his whole life was love, yet on one occasion he demanded of the Pharisees how they ever expected to escape the damnation of hell. He was a dreamer of dreams and a seer of visions, yet for sheer stark realism He has all of our stark realists soundly beaten. He was a servant of all, washing the disciples feet, yet masterfully He strode into the temple, and the hucksters and moneychangers fell over one another to get away from the mad rush and the fire they saw blazing in His eyes. He saved others, yet at the last Himself He did not save. There is nothing in history like the union of contrasts which confronts us in the gospels. The mystery of Jesus is the mystery of divine personality.
Scottish TheologianJames Stuart

If, when Jesus made His claims, He knew that He was not God, then He was lying and deliberately deceiving His followers. But if He was a liar, then He was also a hypocrite because He told others to be honest, whatever the cost, while He himself taught and lived a colossal lie.
More than that, He was a demon, because He told others to trust Him for their eternal destiny. If He couldn't back up His claims and knew it, then He was unspeakably evil.
Last, He would also be a fool because it was His claims to being God that led to His crucifixion.
Many will say that Jesus was a good moral teacher. Let's be realistic.
"That is one thing we must not say. A man who was a great moral teacher and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." (Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, page 41)
C. S. Lewis Cambridge professor (former agnostic) and Famous Christian
 

icehorse

......unaffiliated...... anti-dogmatist
Premium Member
1robin,

A favor. In this long, winding thread, I've lost track. Can you restate your claim? I thought it boiled down to "morality comes from a christian god", but I might have that wrong.
 

1robin

Christian/Baptist
I fail to see the logic behind the former requiring the latter. The existence of something can be subjective. Take the value of money or political boundaries; these things exist but are subjective.
Right and wrong in this context are objective by nature. Without God right and wrong as categories of actual moral facts do not exist. Without God morality is ethical preference and not in any way related to a non existent right or wring fact. I did not make that very clear but when I mean actual moral right and wrong. I mean objectively true right and wrong. Man has no power to make anything right or wrong. We can only make them legal or illegal.



It ultimately causes more harm than help, both to the rest of nature, and to our Community; therefore, it's not good.
To say something causes harm to an arbitrary life form does nothing to show it is actually wrong. You must first show why harming something is actually wrong, hen why harming humanity is wrong, in which cases it isn't and why. Harm does not equate to wrong. In fact harming other sis at times considered morally good.

The existence of the Community is dependent on the stability of nature.
You have only restated my question. Why is harming communities wrong or destabilizing nature immoral? Without God humans are nothing but biological anomalies and to harm them is no more wrong than harming rocks.



Harm was done to every life form in existence. How is that not enough?
How is it in anyway proof that anything is wrong? Without God no matter how you dress it up whatever basis you have for morality (or claim to) is equal to opinion and preference. No preference or opinion can actually make anything wrong or right. Without God your left without anything to fill the void where the foundation of moral fact is supposed to be. You just keep shoving arbitrary terms in there and claiming that makes things wrong but it doesn't. It's a semanticshell game which cannot even begin to perform the function.
 

1robin

Christian/Baptist
Like I said, for your reasoning to be correct all atheists would be mass murderers because they haven't got God to tell them that murder is wrong. Clearly that isn't the case, and clearly morality is a human construct. So your reasoning is wrong.
That is absurd. It does not follow from anything I have said. In fact in 10,000 posts you can't quote a single thing I said that does lead to that conclusion. I have never said atheist are by default immoral. I have insisted they can act just as morally as any cultural group. The point I made is that no grounds for objective morality can be found in atheism not that an atheist cannot act morally. There is not a single sentence in your post that even comes close to following from anything I have said.

I have explained why the first one is incorrect.

The second is incorrect as I have stated many times because if God exists then even atheist have a God given moral conscience, despite that I doubt very many are ignorant of the claim God said do not murder. On top of all that it is not necessary to be told it is wrong for it thought wrong. However it isn't in fact wrong unless God exists. Atheist societies still believe it is wrong even though they deny the source. It isn't in fact wrong if the source does not exist but that has nothing to do with their believing it is.

The third point is wrong because humanity cannot construct a single moral fact. It is inherently impossible. With God even atheist can discover that murder is wrong. Without God we can make it illegal anyway. What we can never do is actually make it wrong.
 

1robin

Christian/Baptist
It means just what I said, not whatever motivations you assume are behind what I said.
Even if true that does not mean I have any idea what it means.


I'm not going to answer until we address the booby traps in your question. If you don't like this approach, then stop asking booby-trapped questions.
My position has no necessity of booby traps and the tactic never crossed my mind. I have no idea to what you refer but will clarify whatever is confusing you. First please quote what I said you think is a trap. I re-read what I posted and cannot find anything that I think could have been mistaken for a trick.


So... you're operating from the assumption that someone who knew the full moral implications of the act could come to the realization that killing everyone might actually good. If that's part of your premises, then any argument that killing everyone is wrong - whether we assume God or not - is going to be logically contradictory.
Do you deny that killing a completely evil population could be morally justified? Why? If the purpose of the universe is for humanity to come to a knowledge of God and it has instead perverted it's self to the point it will only produce oppression, slavery, violence, and misery for every single generation to come it evil to allow it to do so. Also this was not an attempt to suggest killing all life is good or evil. It was an attempt to distinguish between what an infinite mind can justifiably do with what a finite mind could.


What do you mean by "actually wrong"? What do you think makes right or wrong "actual"?
Wrong is any act contrary to God's nature and our duties under him. Being objectively true is what makes a thing good or evil.


You tell me. Morality is concerned with the well-being of sentient beings. Would killing every form of life in the universe help or hurt the overall well-being of sentient beings?
Morality is not based on the well being of sentient beings. With God it is based on his nature. Without it is not even true but the false morality we have invented is not based on sentient well fare either. It may be said that much of morality is based on speciesm to the detriment of all other sentient well being (Which is worse than racism and actually immoral) or a thousand other things. What it is not based on is the welfare of all sentient beings. I used to work in federal court rooms. I spent many hours reading their law books. The vast proportion of laws do not have anything to do with the well being of sentient beings of any kind. \


Let me ask you another question since it seems impossible to get an answer to my former question. Why is the well being of sentient beings (claimed wrongly by you to be the basis of morals) good and the well being of rocks not good? Without God the capacity of higher thought has no objective value or worth.
 

Rick O'Shez

Irishman bouncing off walls
I have never said atheist are by default immoral. I have insisted they can act just as morally as any cultural group.

OK. So that proves that morality doesn't rely on God. What puzzles me is why you are spending all this time and energy trying to prove the opposite. o_O

And from a practical point of view what difference does it make anyway? Personally I don't care what people believe, provided that they act decently. I don't care about a persons gender, race, sexuality, religion, whatever, provided that they act decently.
 
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9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
Even if true that does not mean I have any idea what it means.
It means that you should base your interpretation of what I said on what I actually say, not what you assume that I mean but haven't said.

My position has no necessity of booby traps and the tactic never crossed my mind. I have no idea to what you refer but will clarify whatever is confusing you. First please quote what I said you think is a trap. I re-read what I posted and cannot find anything that I think could have been mistaken for a trick.
Two that come to mind:

- you're trying to only define morality in terms of God.
- you've started with the assumption that killing of an entire population can sometimes be good. As long as you maintain this position, any conclusion that killing an entire population is always wrong will be inconsistent.

Do you deny that killing a completely evil population could be morally justified? Why? If the purpose of the universe is for humanity to come to a knowledge of God and it has instead perverted it's self to the point it will only produce oppression, slavery, violence, and misery for every single generation to come it evil to allow it to do so.
Then there's your answer: assuming all that, I suppose it is not necessarily evil to kill an entire population.

Also this was not an attempt to suggest killing all life is good or evil. It was an attempt to distinguish between what an infinite mind can justifiably do with what a finite mind could.
But you cited God's "infinite knowledge" as the way that he would know that it's okay to kill all life. This means that it is good, and a sufficiently wise being would be able to figure this out.

Wrong is any act contrary to God's nature and our duties under him.
What makes it wrong to "act contrary to God's nature"?

Being objectively true is what makes a thing good or evil.
I can't even tell what you mean by this sentence.

Morality is not based on the well being of sentient beings.
If you're going to reject the basis of morality, then any further discussion is going to be pointless.

When I say "morality", that's what I'm referring to. If you reject this definition, I'm not going to accept what you call "morality" as morality at all.

If you're going to insist on defining morality in terms of God, then we're done. Of course, I realize that you're being disingenuous here, since if you really only defined morality in terms of God, you wouldn't even have bothered to ask how we can determine morality without God.

Let me ask you another question since it seems impossible to get an answer to my former question. Why is the well being of sentient beings (claimed wrongly by you to be the basis of morals) good and the well being of rocks not good? Without God the capacity of higher thought has no objective value or worth.
Morality is about the well-being of sentient beings by definition, similar to how nutrition is about things that are ingested by living things as food. It's a category error to talk about the morality of non-sentient things, just as it would be to talk about the health of a rock or the height of a colour.
 

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
That is absurd. It does not follow from anything I have said. In fact in 10,000 posts you can't quote a single thing I said that does lead to that conclusion. I have never said atheist are by default immoral. I have insisted they can act just as morally as any cultural group.
You've tried to define morality in terms of God's will and said that "wrong is any act contrary to God's nature and our duties under him." Do you not consider faith in God to be part of our duty... maybe the most important part?
 

1robin

Christian/Baptist
OK. So that proves that morality doesn't rely on God. What puzzles me is why you are spending all this time and energy trying to prove the opposite. o_O
Again what you said DOES NOT follow from what I did. Let me make this simplistic.

1. No objective moral fact can possibly exist without God.
2. If God exists then Murder is actually wrong.
3. Without God murder is not wrong it is only illegal.
4. However, an atheist can think murder is wrong with or without God.
 

1robin

Christian/Baptist
It means that you should base your interpretation of what I said on what I actually say, not what you assume that I mean but haven't said.
An interpretation is necessary not literally what you or anyone says. An interpretation is what a person thinks another means by what they say. I only saw one rational interpretation of to what you said. Instead of debating what interpretation means why don't you either clarify what you meant or drop this point entirely.


Two that come to mind:

- you're trying to only define morality in terms of God.
- you've started with the assumption that killing of an entire population can sometimes be good. As long as you maintain this position, any conclusion that killing an entire population is always wrong will be inconsistent.

1. There is no trick to this. Not even a potential for one. If morality exists it is defined by God's nature. It does not necessarily exist but if it does it requires God. Maybe you do not understand that in this context I am talking about moral facts. I am not talking about ethics that are referred to as morals. This is no booby trap, it is a propositional necessity that has been known since the age of Greece.
2. There is no trap to the second point either. Even if I assumed killing all humans can be good you could still show how it at others times could be bad. So can you show that without God killing al of humanity can be objectively wrong or not?


Then there's your answer: assuming all that, I suppose it is not necessarily evil to kill an entire population.
My answer has no bearing on this conclusion. You seem to be over intimidated by my claims. Let me make it easier. Prove any act what so ever is objectively wrong without God:


But you cited God's "infinite knowledge" as the way that he would know that it's okay to kill all life. This means that it is good, and a sufficiently wise being would be able to figure this out.
It means it could be theoretically good. Your position is that it is wrong or potentially so without God. I asked you to show that is true.


What makes it wrong to "act contrary to God's nature"?
Because it is against a duty we inherent actually have. What in the world is your position here? Morality does exist without God but can't exist if he does?


I can't even tell what you mean by this sentence.
Being objectively true is to say that is it's actual nature regardless of what anyone thinks. It is like saying that at this moment the sun actually exists as an objective fact even if no one agreed.


If you're going to reject the basis of morality, then any further discussion is going to be pointless.
I am the only one with a world view that includes an actual basis of morality. You at best have a basis for ethical opinions. That is just the fact, if that means you no longer want to discuss it that is up to you.

When I say "morality", that's what I'm referring to. If you reject this definition, I'm not going to accept what you call "morality" as morality at all.
That is like saying you believe morality is defined as whatever is good for you and you have no interest in any other definition. Let me give the official definitions of morality: There are two different kinds but I am not discussing one of them. I have always pointed out I am talking about morality that is objective in nature not that is contrived by humanity.

1. Malum in se (plural mala in se) is a Latin phrase meaning wrong or evil in itself. The phrase is used to refer to conduct assessed as sinful or inherently wrong by nature, independent of regulations governing the conduct.

This is what is under discussion and what is relevant.

2. It is distinguished from malum prohibitum, which is wrong only because it is prohibited.

This seems to be what you want to discuss and it is not relevant or even true. It is a contrived convenience unrelated to any actual moral truth whatever.

For example, most human beings believe that murder, rape, and theft are wrong, regardless of whether a law governs such conduct or where the conduct occurs, and is thus recognizably malum in se. In contrast, malum prohibitum crimes are criminal not because they are inherently bad, but because the act is prohibited by the law of the state.
Malum in se - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If you're going to insist on defining morality in terms of God, then we're done. Of course, I realize that you're being disingenuous here, since if you really only defined morality in terms of God, you wouldn't even have bothered to ask how we can determine morality without God.
You want out then quit. Constant threats are not necessary. BTW I never defined morality in terms of God. I founded objective moral truth as based in God.


Morality is about the well-being of sentient beings by definition, similar to how nutrition is about things that are ingested by living things as food. It's a category error to talk about the morality of non-sentient things, just as it would be to talk about the health of a rock or the height of a colour.
It is not, it is not in theory nor is it in practice. Some laws are based on a completely invented and false (if God does not exist) sliding scale of intelligent creatures that has no basis in fact but I can think of non that are based solely on it.

Tell you what: Name me a law which is based on the equal well being of all sentient beings. Not that legality was the issue to begin with.
 

1robin

Christian/Baptist
You've tried to define morality in terms of God's will and said that "wrong is any act contrary to God's nature and our duties under him." Do you not consider faith in God to be part of our duty... maybe the most important part?
I do not think so. Please quote where I have said morality is defined in terms of God's will. I said Morality is determined by God's nature. His will or commands are merely reflections of his nature.

I rigidly defined morality in the terms the Romans did for you in the previous post because you keep mistakenly claim I use God in moralities definitions. Please read it carefully. The same Roman articulated ideas have been true under different cultures since man has existed.

As to faith (I have no idea how that is relevant) but yes it is a moral duty. It is not a moral duty because God said to do it. It is a moral duty because that is the objective nature of God's sovereignty and our dependence and the fact of the matter if God exists. To not have faith in God if he exists is in effect a lie and lying is against our moral duties. The same way it would be immoral to tell a child gravity was not true and he ran off a cliff. That is not wrong because Gravity demanded it be obeyed. It is wrong because it is true and I denied it to my or another's detriment.
 

1robin

Christian/Baptist
Sorry but I don't accept the validity of that statement, and just repeating it doesn't increase it's validity.
That is irrelevant. The necessary processional fact remains whether you accept it or not. If you deny that gravity is related to mass you are still going to fall if you jump off a cliff. However it does make a discussion impossible to have. Debates take place on the common ground of either propositional deductions, objective facts, or true premise and logical conclusions. If you deny them no debate can be had but that won't change the factual nature of my claims. Substituting a more convenient false reality for a logically necessary reality is not an argument it is a tactic.
 

Rick O'Shez

Irishman bouncing off walls
That is irrelevant.

The fact that I don't accept the validity of your proposition is surely highly relevant if we're having a debate. You can't just make statements and insist that anyone who wants to debate with you has to accept them as true, or insist that people accept your favoured form of logical argument.
 
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