I hear about these things specifically in the context of "this country wouldn't be where it is without the morals of Christianity." I'd like to know what "Christian-specific" morals are, compared with the morals of other religions. And please, don't spout some BS about another religion if you don't know anything about them.
2007-08-01 07:17:12 · 19 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
So, fireball. When I asked yesterday about the ten commandments you were unwilling to cite them. There are a number of lists of the ten commandments depending on which denomination, translation or even religion you belong to. Care to try again?
2007-08-01 07:21:53 · update #1
OK. So the best informative response I've received is that Christian morals are those that the initial European settlers brought with them - those that sought to escape religious oppression.
From that I infer that a Christian (American) moral is to escape the oppression of dogmatic religion.
Joy: not making fun of your answer; in fact, I appreciate the response.
2007-08-01 07:24:16 · update #2
Waytoosteve: Great response. Thanks.
Even the "Golden Rule" is not unique to Christianity, of course. The ethic of reciprocity has been around a very long time. While I dislike citing Wikipedia as a valid source this article does neatly summarize its history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethic_of_reciprocity
2007-08-01 07:36:02 · update #3
ok, first of all, I'm a Christian. That said, the morality of Christianity is, distilled to its essence, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Christ said that this is the first law.
Most people popping off about the 10cs ignore them when it suits their purposes, we've built an economy around covetousness, there are all sorts of examples of worshipping graven images, look at how some Christians treat the American flag, pledging allegiance to it and the whole bit.
Most of the time, when people are referring to "Christian morals," they are parrotting what others have told them. The fact is that this nation was founded on the theories of the Enlightenment, that there are natural laws that all men have the right to pursue. Law, distilled to its essence, is the weighing of rights among individuals. There are no good civil laws which prohibit a person from doing something that causes no harm to others.
What law should be is a lowest common denominator of public morality. My own personal/religious morality may be much higher than the governmentally imposed morality, but government should favor no person, no sect, no religion, and the idea that what this country needs to get back to is an idea that never really existed is a modern construct, and destructive of the ideals and ideas that the nation was founded upon.
2007-08-01 07:30:10 · answer #1 · answered by waytoosteve 3 · 5⤊ 0⤋
christian morals a word christians use to promote the I'm better than you are position of their religion.....they use the word moral like they use the words good and evil... like they use the words sin and god, not because it matters in the real world but because it gives them the illusion of superiority over others.... christian moral are based on their perception of good and evil... good my religion, evil not my religion it has little to do with right and wrong... when a christian murders he is forgiven, why because it's not against the spiritual laws of their "god". forgiveness is used as a cover up.. murder without consequences is what it produced... that's how they justified witch burnings and such... not till the human laws defined them as wrong did it matter, which brings us to another more accurate definition of moral... the moral of the story... which means the lesson learned... the moral of human experience says murder is wrong and consequences not forgiveness must be established and imposed..... so now even christians have to pay a price when they are caught murdering innocent people... no free ticket out of jail because murder is morally acceptable to the church....
2007-08-01 07:59:02 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
there are no christian specific morals that got the country where it is today. well. actually, right wing christians have succeeded in their mission to keep gays from having equal rights, keeping women's rights to hang in the balance by demanding legislation to restrict women's right to make reproductive choices, keeping the death penalty in use, especially in texas, and ensuring that guns are available over the counter at a walmart near you. and other fun stuff to try and mash church and state together in various ways too numerous and sad to recount here... but easily found through a simple internet search. This is how "this country is where it is thanks to the folks pushing so-called christian morals. although since the "moral majority" is a thing of the past, the newer catch phrase is not morals, but VALUES. and christian values are now said (by christians) to be synonomous with FAMILY VALUES. man, wordplay's abitch!
there are many similar tenants between religions, morals are subjective by their very nature, and the underlying principle of not harming others is a common thread.
2007-08-01 07:32:31 · answer #3 · answered by lunaticxxcalm 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The answer, in very large part, depends on *which* Christianity it's asked of. A few years ago, The World Christian Encyclopedia noted the existence of over 30, 800 denominations of Christianity world-wide. So there isn't "Christianity" but, instead, "Christianities"... and lots of them, too.
Wanna place any bets that they all think the same? No?
2007-08-01 07:25:48 · answer #4 · answered by watergoat06 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Kill all non-believers (Hey, they did it in the Inquisition,) fear any and all sexual contact, kill in the name of God is ok, hate anyone who's not like you, destroy cultures to make more Christians (Africa and Native Americans,) Fight other religions based off land (Crusades, possibly Middle Eastern conflict going on now) Those are some "Christian morals" and as for the ten commandments, those were mostly from other laws, it was unlawful to murder in nearly any country, even non-Christian countries *gasp* Read Hammurabi's Code and you'll find that most of the Ten Commandments are in there, except for the whole worship only God thing...
2007-08-01 07:25:36 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 3⤋
I think when people say that this country was founded on Christian, or Godly morals, they simply mean that the first settlers came here as Christians seeking religious freedom.
2007-08-01 07:21:41 · answer #6 · answered by Joy 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Exodus 20: 1-17 on page 73 in the NKJV......
these are the basic rules of life and common sense that every culture has within them....God wrote them on stone because of the permanent nature of stone to indicate that these laws are the laws of life from God....
and all cultures also share the same opinion of rude behavior
2007-08-01 07:33:51 · answer #7 · answered by coffee_pot12 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
sometimes Christians , being Christians cite the morals taught in the Bible as 'Christian morals' ..... the morals they follow. they might not realize Christianity didnt invent said morals. my father used to end his letters to me ,'Christian Love, Dad.' i know for a fact he never meant love was unique to Christians. everything he did, he tried to do as a Christian, because he was one.
2007-08-01 07:31:32 · answer #8 · answered by deva 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I used to think that Christian morals meant forgiveness, compassion, and helping the poor. But I've learned recently from the late Reverend Falwell that it actually means that abortion is evil, capital punishment is great, gays are perverted, forced conversions are awesome and success is a sign of God's favor.
How little did I know!
2007-08-01 07:27:19 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 3⤋
They can never define them.
They are simply convinced that they are the only ones that have them, and anyone that is not a Christian, does not.
A lot of them like to say "Atheists have ethics, but not morals". Yet they cannot make any distinction whatsoever between the atheist's and the Christian's morals. None whatsoever.
They just "know" deep in their little hearts, that anyone that's not a Christian is immoral in the eyes of their god.
It makes me sick.
2007-08-01 07:28:47 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 4⤋