Do liberals realize that religion teaches one thing?

Question

Regardless if you believe in God, a Buddha or a gallon of milk. Religion is suppose to teach moral's, right from wrong, (There is good and bad, regardless) and with this you can make wholesome and right choices in life. Evil consumes itself. That is the point of it.

Answer 1

This liberal realizes that the one thing religion teaches is love of God, others and self.

If you love, the morality will follow on its own.

Do conservatives realize that a religion full of do's and don'ts never did anything but turn people away, AND it is not the religion that Jesus Himself taught?

Answer 2

I think you're missing the point. No deity is required to have morals. In fact, the "holy" books of the "Abrahamic" religions are full of immorality, which many followers ignore or excuse.

* * *
Why Christians Must Steal From Secular Morality:
http://www.caseagainstfaith.com/submissions/steal_morality.htm
[Excerpt]

Christians must steal their moral rules from secular morality. They have no choice, as the Bible does not offer a moral system, it only offers a series of contradictory commands and a supposed threat of punishment in the "afterlife" for not following them - a punishment that is given equally to all violators - whatever the sin.

The Bible does nothing and can do nothing towards inculcating moral behavior on its own. Christians must steal from secular moral systems, and then merely graft their 'God threats' on top of this moral system. This is necessary. And the reason for this is simple: there is no morality in the Bible and there can be no morality in the Bible, because the Bible holds that 1) ALL 'sins' are equivalent (destroying any moral sense) AND 2) all moral behavior is immaterial, because works cannot save a person, AND finally all people are damned from birth.

In reality, Christians realize that some actions are more moral than others. They realize that moral actions exist in a hierarchy, and that rape is far worse than stealing a pencil. Yet the Bible holds that all 'sins' are equal, as all deserve the same punishment.

Christians also realize that humans can be moral agents... they expect moral behavior from others, and they view their own children as something to value. Yet the Bible holds that man is worthless, that he cannot be a moral agent, and that his sole salvation comes from grace. However, since Christians realize, implicitly, that all of these these points are obviously, prima facie false, they must steal from secular systems, that hold that 1) man obviously has a value 2) all 'sins' are obviously not equivalent and 3) a person cannot be held to be doing anything 'immoral' without intent.

* * *

Origins of the 10 commandments:
http://www.atheistalliance.org/outreach/news-2002_spring.php
http://www.rationalrevolution.net/articles/ten_commandments.htm

Morality Without God:
http://www.atheists.org/Atheism/cohen.html

Ethics Without Gods:
http://www.atheists.org/Atheism/ethics.html

Morals Without Gods:
http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=library&page=sharris_26_3

Evolution of Altruism:
http://endeavor.med.nyu.edu/~strone01/altruism.html

If It Feels Good to Be Good, It Might Be Only Natural:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/27/AR2007052701056.html?nav=rss_print/asection

The Subtle, Lethal Poison of Religion:
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2007/09/hitchens_1.html

How Can an Atheist Be Moral?
For Goodness Sake
http://www.ffrf.org/about/bybarker/goodness.php

Answer 3

Umm, no, never realized that religion taught anything. Good to know. So theists know one thing after all? Would that logic apply to satanic believers? Or the Kali worshippers? How about different cults?

I'm moral because I choose to be. Takes more guts to do the right thing even without big brother watching you ;)

Answer 4

Once again, a religious Republicon , is blaming the liberals for everything.
Why don't you people ever take responsibility for your own actions?
Religion teaches nothing.
Logic, common sense, and ethics work just as well. you don't steal from someone else, just because they have it, and you don't.
You don't kill another human being, because 'you can''.
You learn these thing from your parents.
People living in remote villages, don't have religion. But, they have a code of behavior, that works for them.
The only thing religion does is create confusion.

Answer 5

Since when does a person need religion to lead a moral life. All they really need to understand is how they would prefer to be treated. Religion has nothing to do with it at all.

Answer 6

But I would argue that you don't need religion to know right and wrong. Most distinctions between right and wrong are obvious and common sense. You can't tell me that people wouldn't consider murder to be a bad thing without religion to tell them it is.

People are social and can relate to and empathize with one another. Therefore, we all know what would make someone else feel hurt or upset or bad or sad. Therefore, we know that doing such a thing wouldn't be good. It's as simple as that.

Answer 7

Nope religion teaches evil and it does it's best to MAKE people evil....hence needing religion and creating a cash cow for the religious leaders

Answer 8

I agree that religion teaches about "good and bad", but what isn't being understood is that the concept of what is "good" differs for each religion. For example, an Arab muslim might say that it is "good" to let your woman walk behind you a few paces, while a Christian would disagree. Saying that religion teaches one thing is--no offense--rather ignorant.

Answer 9

Ummm. No.
That's why we have laws.
And parents can teach morality.
Most people tend to have 'good' qualities because those social behaviors were instilled in them when they were born.
So, no, religion does not need to be present in order for morals to be present.
I'm a pretty moral person and an atheist.
If anything, going to a Catholic High School made me want to nuke the world because it was my first exposure to deep ignorance.

Answer 10

what does that mean for a liberal. Most of whom I know believe that very same thing. As for the conservatives why do they believe in do onto others regardless of the consequenses and get filthy rich in the process is the proper interpretation of the bible?