Does it bother you when religious people claim to have a patent on good morals?

Question

"But... if not from God where do you get morals..."

Come on... get real...

Answer 1

Anybody who would worship that sadistic egotistical **** portrayed in the bible cant have any morals. Even if it were real my morals wouldn't let me.

Morals don't come from an old book. Everybody should know right and wrong anyway naturally, and from upbringing.

Answer 2

wowzer...."where do people get morals"..answer :"come on...get real." That is so on the money for furthering intellectual discussion. Actually, I think it is an avoidance.

let's see if we can figure out all the models...

1) every individual makes his own morals
Flaw - this would mean there are 4 billion moral codes. so...how would any legal system operate?

go to model #2
2) society determines the morals
Flaw - society is fluid and changing. what is "moral" today can easily be campaigned against. What was immoral yesterday, can be considered moral. No consistancy over time. Also, a good example of one society completly changing it's moral base in less than 10 years is the nationalist movement in Germany. Who can deny the outcome of allowing society to be the final judge of morality in this case?

Model 3... Morality exists seperate from society. (which leads to a further question - where does morality come from f it does exist seperate from society)
Flaw - this model can only be accepted if a person believes in "higher power, higher being, Creator, God, Universal Life Force, etc etc. So...if the presumption that there is no God, means a person would have to reject Model #3, and can only choose from the other two models, both of which have inherent flaws within themselves, where model 3 is rejected only because of the conclusion it draws upon for the existance of a Creator.

Answer 3

Everyone thinks they are basically good, i.e. moral. Even criminals plotting their next crime think they are basically good. How can that be? It's because when we have no fixed standard for morality, we change the standard to meet our behavior. It illustrates our great human capacity for self deception.

Morality isn't just doing good deeds, it is also the motive behind those good deeds. If there is no God, then the motive is always related to mere feelings. I feel bad when I lie or good when I do a good deed. A morality that ignores God is always and only based upon feel-goodism.

At this point, you will probably want to either argue that religious people are the same (but that begs the issue) or that people are innately good (which then leads back to my point about self deception).

Answer 4

It also amuses me, I've seen quite a few "religious" people talk about others having no morals and then in the next breath they are stereotyping people, promoting hatred and generally bieng hypocritical.
They seem to think that without a belief in God then you will always change your morals at a whim!? This is stupidity as people have set basic moral.s that they act according to

Answer 5

Yeah, I'm not religious but I am a very moral person I think.. I still have a clear sense of right and wrong. Some converted religious people seem to think that you can only have good morals once you've accepted Jesus as your personal savior.. Not always true!

Answer 6

I for the life of me can't understand why should I go through a book and tell me why it's wrong to kill, steal, cheat and other things they claim that are in the bible. Does it really take picking up this fictional book which by the way encourages children turning against parents and brother killing brother (Matthews story in the new testament) to tell me what is right and wrong? Now if the bible could cover ettiques and manners of all sorts >.> I would still pass on religious behavior.

Answer 7

Non-religious morality is a big hurdle for many religious folk to overcome. It's understandable, to an extent. They've been told their whole lives that the rules set forth in their sacred text are the only reason why they behave, and by extension, the only things holding society together.

Answer 8

Yes it does. So they had a big book teaching them right from wrong. Well I had good parents and intelligence to assist me. Whats the difference. I am smart, kind, respectful, I don't cuss, I don't drink to get drunk, never did drugs, I don't kill people (they do though don't they). I have an extremely polite 3 yr old that is being raised with respect and understanding not "be nice or you will burn in Hell".

Answer 9

yeah, but in there heads EVERYTHING from the universe to a single grain of sand came from God, that includes morals. It is annoying when they try and use it as an arguement though

Answer 10

All morals are right if they transmit the message of love and respect.