Do you believe that people can figure out what is right and wrong without a religious scripture?

Question

Isn't it complete aggorance, ignorance, and intolerance to believe that people cannot live a moral,ethical life unless they subscribe to your religion?




In reference to:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/?qid=20060903090513AAnhhon&r=w&pa=FZptHWf.BGRX3OFMhDNXWf.saoBbsnaTWoYbUbCBfEzei_eO.wRC6QsoCHSZLNBuhCQN3rr0YaxaLIg9WA--#Qsx9UzW.AGT8w_r9UYgsNYoMIM8s0YXn6ErYNCm1NiGPzb6pFth7

Answer 1

AGR yes - I know more Christians that have done many "bad things" than I have. If God is there - why would they do things

People like that piss me off cause they have no acceptance for things outside their tiny box

Answer 2

The problem is who would there be to determine what is right and wrong. What might be wrong for instance in one culture like killing someone would be in another just doing what you do before you eat in preparing your meal of human salad sandwich.
We all have this inherent idea of how we ought to behave but also a strange idea that it must always work in our favor and so we hold to a selfishness by excusing our own wrongs regardless of the needs of others. It may sound like a good idea in practice but if it were possible don't you think we might've gotten there by now? So no I don't think it is arrogant, ignorant or intolerant to believe that people cannot live morally, ethical lives unless there is an agreed upon standard of behavior whether you want to call it religion or not. Religion is itself any accepted practice of moral and ethical restraint and does not necessarily have to include the notion of a "God." But you will always have those who are looking out for #1 at the cost of #2. This is the reality of human social behavior. Can we discover moral behavior? Yes! Will all adhere to it? Absolutely not!!

Answer 3

Religions are, in part, the results of the natural social and ethical aspects of being human. Not the other way around.

Religions try to pretend that they make people moral and civilized, but it is just the opposite. And religions do little more than separate people into naturally antagonistic groups who fight over their beliefs, neither of which can be proven. Beliefs kill. Beliefs are amoral.

Religious scriptures create wars and just the opposite of what they claim they are doing.

The current war on terrorism is really a war on fundamentalist religions, including fundamentalist Christians.

Answer 4

Yes I do, and the Bible agrees with you. .... to some extent

Romans 2: 13. (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.
14. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, DO BY NATURE THE THINGS CONTAINED IN THE LAW, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
15. Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)
16. In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

I think this actually referring to people that have not had an opportunity to study the Bible, but I don't know that for sure.

Answer 5

All beliefs are supported by other beliefs. This is the central problem in epistemology. Perhaps those who are insisting on having divine dictation of morality have an underlying belief that they cannot be moral without it, and assume everyone is just as weak. But even religious prescriptions have to be understood, so we come back to personal understanding of ethics. There seems to be an interesting juxtaposition here; those who insist on religious prescription seem to be ethical agnostics before they read their books, while religious agnostics and atheists seem to have faith in their ability to be moral without religion. Hmmmm.....

Answer 6

Philosophers tend to heavily touch upon morals and ethics as well.

This isn't to prove or disprove your point, it is just to suggest that religious scriptures are not the only things out there dealing with morality and ethics.

The only time it is not arrogant and ignorant to presribe morals and ethics to people is when you are God doing the prescribing. This statement being the answer to your second question.

Answer 7

I am a Christian, but I do agree with you. People can figure out right and wrong without scripture. All anyone has to do is think about what is best for society in general and do that. What is best for society is: no killing, no stealing, etc.

I am related to people who seem to do the right thing but do not believe in God much less the scriptures.

Answer 8

People don't need religion to know what's right and what's wrong. With or without religion (yes, I was brought up in a religion) I know that killing people is wrong, I know that it's wrong to hurt people. Parents can raise their children to have good ethics and principles without bringing God into it. We learn what we learn based on the consequences of our actions - and those lessons stick with us longer than the lessons we learn in Sunday School.

Answer 9

Of course they can. Thats what religion was. It was common sense put into a story. And they it grew, like a malignant tumor, into something else. But yes, I have many morals and values that most of the world has forgotten about. But I have no religion to tell me to do this. I just do it, because thats who I am.

Answer 10

Yes they did before !

Look at how the ancient Hindu's, Mayans, Incas and the Red Indians lived - they lived in Harmoney with the environment - Religion came and screwed everythingoff...

It will be called living by socially acceptable norms !

Don(key) and the crowd will not understand the beauty of it !

Answer 11

Oooo, really good book on evolutionary psychology by Robert Wright. The Moral Animal. Read it.