"I don't believe that my Jewish ancestors thought that perjury and murder and theft were okay until they got to Mt. Sinai and were told no dice."
http://richarddawkins.net/article,1291,The-Great-God-Debate,Hugh-Hewitt-Show-Christopher-Hitchens-Mark-Roberts
Hitchens' point is that moral codes actually preceded the establishment of religion, rather than being created by any religion or even by a deity.
Agree or disagree?
2007-06-15 15:42:33 · 19 answers · asked by ? 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Yes, it's fairly clear that killing, stealing, and lying are pretty much against the laws in any community. We need these rules to get along together.
2007-06-15 15:51:38 · answer #1 · answered by NHBaritone 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
In Genesis God creates and then gives instructions to Adam and Eve. These directions were not followed due to interference from the snake. After eating from the tree of knowledge they realized they were naked. When God came to visit Adam and Eve hid. Morality is based on right and wrong and they being the first knew they had done something wrong. These would proceed Mt Sinai which may have been an attempt to write down guidelines, which at the time were already being broken
Thou shall have no other God but me.
2007-06-15 16:04:09 · answer #2 · answered by lakelover 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Strongly agree.
As I mentioned earlier, there are some good morals and bad morals in the Bible. Even Christians have to interpret the Bible and pick the good morals.
But this requires having a moral sense already!
An easier argument comes from looking at all of the other countries that share the same morals despite not having Christian influence.
Edit: A new Hitchens book? I haven't read any Hitchens before, but I've heard good things about him.
2007-06-15 15:45:48 · answer #3 · answered by Minh 6 · 3⤊ 1⤋
I think there are people both Jewish and not, who have believed they were okay both before and since. Hitchens - not the sharpest knife in the drawer - ought to realize (as most people of common sense do) that if everybody universally accepted something as true, you wouldn't need to bother codifying a rule to that effect.
But then, like I said, Hitchens is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Hitchens is, after all, the biggest Dubya apologist there ever was on the left: pro-war to the max!
2007-06-15 15:50:18 · answer #4 · answered by evolver 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
agree in a way but not in the atheistic sense or in knocking the jews. we all have certain mental reason of what is right or wrong. i think when moses was given the law it was something that we all knew basically if we look inside. i think hitchens' has worded this argument in a way that appeals to our sub conscience but pushes his agenda forward. God and the Divine are a reality for me. lieing, cheating, adultery, murder are all things we know are wrong. it would be interesting to pull someone out of the jungle that had no biblical training to prove my theory. i've also read some ancient Egyptian writings as well as Greek and other religious documents that allude to this fact. the trick is how all these people word things that give us plenty of room to debate and misunderstand meanings...
2007-06-15 18:49:00 · answer #5 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Not even the Bible says that moral codes were established with the 10 commandments and/or religion ... obviously Adam and Eve felt guilty or they wouldn't have hidden from God in the garden.
And obviously Cain knew he was guilty of murder as well.
The 10 commandments set down the rules God wanted us to follow ... is there one that doesn't make sense? Obviously, no. It doesn't mean that those rules didn't appear until then.
2007-06-15 15:55:24 · answer #6 · answered by arewethereyet 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I didn't read what dawkins wrote. I would like to say that God had taught us through Adam good morals. This happened long before mount Sinai. It was when sin came in that we started questioning what good morals are.
2007-06-15 18:23:18 · answer #7 · answered by melchisedek23 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Richard Dawkins is a religious zealot for evolution. I wouldn't trust anything he said or quoted to be anything more than his comments to provide a heavy bias so people can believe the way he does. If he promoted Hitchens quote in his article it has to be something he views as a tool to advance his cause.
He is more ardent in his attempts to discredit Christianity and
Christ than any living person in our generation.
2007-06-15 15:59:05 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I like Hitchens because he can be an insufferable Jerk with a skewed point of view one minute, and then he says something irrefutably true and impossible to argue against the next minute.
This is a brilliant quote.
2007-06-15 15:50:01 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Definitly agree. Similar morals, like the Golden Rule exist in all parts of the world, so it can't just be a religious thing.
2007-06-15 15:55:36 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋