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re: I want to hear from the Agnostics. What will the secular world eventually evolve into?

Posted on 3/11/21 at 12:02 pm to
Posted by omarlittle
Member since Mar 2011
1331 posts
Posted on 3/11/21 at 12:02 pm to
I just think they were around (in some fashion) long before Christianity; see ancient Rome and Egypt. Obviously this evolves over time. But religions tend to replicate themselves throughout history.
Posted by AggieHank86
Texas
Member since Sep 2013
44345 posts
Posted on 3/11/21 at 12:02 pm to
quote:

Sure. But claiming they sprang forth from evolutionary principles is a harder sell (though not impossible)
How so?

After studying the matter decades ago, I have never seriously considered the notion that morals arose from anything OTHER than a matter of societies adapting social behaviors that "work" in the sense of facilitating inter- and intra-group interaction. e.g. Killing another member of the group is "immoral" or "wrong" because a group will not function as effectively if group members are not punished for killing one another at random.
This post was edited on 3/11/21 at 12:05 pm
Posted by Flats
Member since Jul 2019
26885 posts
Posted on 3/11/21 at 12:03 pm to
quote:

But claiming they sprang forth from evolutionary principles is a harder sell (though not impossible).


If it's possible I haven't heard it yet. You can get to pragmatism but that's about it.
Posted by Cossatotjoe
Member since Oct 2020
938 posts
Posted on 3/11/21 at 12:04 pm to
You don’t need to believe in anything to be a good person. The problem is that the atheists and agnostics don’t realize or want to admit that their entire worldview is explicitly Christian.
This post was edited on 3/11/21 at 12:05 pm
Posted by Flats
Member since Jul 2019
26885 posts
Posted on 3/11/21 at 12:04 pm to
quote:

By what standards and in what world was slavery decided to be “immoral”? And also, ask yourself where and under what standards is it still practiced today.


I don't understand the question. It's been considered both "good" and "bad" throughout history by various groups. And again, that ignores what sort of slavery you're talking about.
Posted by omarlittle
Member since Mar 2011
1331 posts
Posted on 3/11/21 at 12:04 pm to
quote:

You need religion (or something we'd commonly describe as supernatural) for the word "good" to have any real meaning.


Why? Can you not even entertain the idea that it's possible that there is nothing supernatural? And if there isn't, does that mean everything that we deem "good" was never actually that?
Posted by Cossatotjoe
Member since Oct 2020
938 posts
Posted on 3/11/21 at 12:06 pm to
quote:


I don't understand the question. It's been considered both "good" and "bad" throughout history by various groups. And again, that ignores what sort of slavery you're talking about.


Find me a society in history where slavery of those outside the tribe, group, or nation was prohibited and not practiced. I’ll wait.
This post was edited on 3/11/21 at 12:10 pm
Posted by omarlittle
Member since Mar 2011
1331 posts
Posted on 3/11/21 at 12:07 pm to
quote:

You don’t need to believe in anything to be a good person. The problem is that the atheists and agnostics don’t realize or want to admit that their entire worldview is explicitly Christian.


I don't disagree. But to act like Christians created these virtues is disingenuous. Christianity is most likely a facsimile of pagan religions before it.
Posted by Flats
Member since Jul 2019
26885 posts
Posted on 3/11/21 at 12:08 pm to
quote:

Find me a society in history where slavery of those outside the tribe, group, or nation was prohibited and not practiced. I'll wait.


I doubt those exist on any large scale. I don't mind if you wait, but did you think I'd claimed otherwise?
Posted by Cossatotjoe
Member since Oct 2020
938 posts
Posted on 3/11/21 at 12:09 pm to
quote:


I don't disagree. But to act like Christians created these virtues is disingenuous. Christianity is most likely a facsimile of pagan religions before it.


Nope, they did. There is one major difference between these values as promoted, though not always practiced, by Christians and almost every other society on earth. I’ll wait for you to figure it out.
Posted by Rex Feral
Member since Jan 2014
15916 posts
Posted on 3/11/21 at 12:10 pm to
quote:

According to the Bible, Hebrew slaves had their own set of rules. Other slaves were to be handed down to children of owners.
You wanna be my slave? I’ll release you in 7 years


Nice miss-interpretation Captain Context. Jesus said to accept the position you're in, not that slavery was okay. As far as your verse in Exodus, the book is a history of Jews in Egypt. Moses wrote about slaves because that was what was going on.

You sound like a cancel culture warrior who wants to burn Tom Sawyer because the phrases that were in common use then aren't acceptable to your delicate sensibilities.
Posted by omarlittle
Member since Mar 2011
1331 posts
Posted on 3/11/21 at 12:16 pm to
Well, you stumped me. So you're saying Christianity invented "the standard mores of don’t lie, murder, have envy, steal". School me on what I'm missing.
Posted by Lg
Hayden, Alabama
Member since Jul 2011
8472 posts
Posted on 3/11/21 at 12:17 pm to
quote:

I believe that you don’t need religion in order to be a good person




Then why do we need laws? And who determines what is a "good person"?
Posted by Cossatotjoe
Member since Oct 2020
938 posts
Posted on 3/11/21 at 12:19 pm to
quote:

Well, you stumped me. So you're saying Christianity invented "the standard mores of don’t lie, murder, have envy, steal". School me on what I'm missing.



They pretty much did in a certain way that was unique in human history and made it very difficult for even the Jews to countenance them.
Posted by Cossatotjoe
Member since Oct 2020
938 posts
Posted on 3/11/21 at 12:22 pm to
quote:

I doubt those exist on any large scale. I don't mind if you wait, but did you think I'd claimed otherwise?


Then why do you count the uniqueness of the only sort of society to ever decide on the basis of the morality of their dominant religion that enslaving others was wrong and to voluntarily give it...or even set about eradicating it?
Posted by Lg
Hayden, Alabama
Member since Jul 2011
8472 posts
Posted on 3/11/21 at 12:22 pm to
quote:

Jesus said to accept the position you're in, not that slavery was okay.


And also, what the Hebrews went through in the physical in the O.T. is what we go through in the spiritual now. Every man is a slave to sin.
Posted by Flats
Member since Jul 2019
26885 posts
Posted on 3/11/21 at 12:25 pm to
quote:

Killing another member of the group is "immoral" or "wrong" because a group will not function as effectively if group members are not punished for killing one another at random.



If this is simply herd morality why should we let babies with defects live? By evolutionary standards it's bad. There's a chance they'll procreate, passing on defective genes. Even if we sterilized them they'll command more resources than a normal, healthy baby. In the wild they're typically abandoned if not outright killed. That's Darwin, that's nature, that's science, that's evolution, and that's exactly what we should do if our morality is really just a utilitarian tool with no goal other than furthering the species.
Posted by Rex Feral
Member since Jan 2014
15916 posts
Posted on 3/11/21 at 12:30 pm to
quote:

If this is simply herd morality why should we let babies with defects live? By evolutionary standards it's bad. There's a chance they'll procreate, passing on defective genes. Even if we sterilized them they'll command more resources than a normal, healthy baby. In the wild they're typically abandoned if not outright killed. That's Darwin, that's nature, that's science, that's evolution, and that's exactly what we should do if our morality is really just a utilitarian tool with no goal other than furthering the species.


For a Tech fan, you're alright.
Posted by Cossatotjoe
Member since Oct 2020
938 posts
Posted on 3/11/21 at 12:30 pm to
quote:

If this is simply herd morality why should we let babies with defects live? By evolutionary standards it's bad. There's a chance they'll procreate, passing on defective genes. Even if we sterilized them they'll command more resources than a normal, healthy baby. In the wild they're typically abandoned if not outright killed. That's Darwin, that's nature, that's science, that's evolution, and that's exactly what we should do if our morality is really just a utilitarian tool with no goal other than furthering the species.


Jeopardy theme....

Name an ancient practice common in Rome and Greece involving deformed, female, or otherwise unwanted children that ceased as Christianity became more widespread and took over civil authority.
Posted by Flats
Member since Jul 2019
26885 posts
Posted on 3/11/21 at 12:35 pm to
quote:

Then why do you count the uniqueness of the only sort of society to ever decide on the basis of the morality of their dominant religion that enslaving others was wrong and to voluntarily give it...or even set about eradicating it?


I think you have me confused with another poster or you misunderstood something I said. You apparently think I'm hostile to Christianity.
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