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Morality, our achilles heel. I suggest that humanity, at least western / American people, are all entirely screwed and skewed by their warped sense of "morality." Atheist or fanatic, people allow themselves to be guided by a sense of morality inside their head which they rarely question or adjust. American / western morality comes from religious history and influence and is exceptionally warped. Where are you with morality?

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TedGresham997 5 May 6
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14 comments

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4

I reject you premise that morality is derived from any other place than from in our heads.
Religion is fictional explanations of the ancient world when there was not scientific understanding laced with prohibition of human behavior that someone did not like.

Given that most religions have demonstrated that they are more immoral than moral, I contend that I and my atheist friends are more moral that any religious text.

I agree

1

I didn't vote because all three are true.

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Of course we atheists/humanists don't need our sense of morality to be based in the tangles of theism. Without the baseless factors of theism, our morality-viewpoints are more clear and fair within a rational society, which also benefits those unwilling to part with superstition.

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Humanity is my moral compass.

1

No witnesses no bodies ......

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Morality is maliable.
Nothing is set in stone.....
well, except death, and they're working on that.

3

If you live in a society with no rules of morality, people will get hurt a lot and have things stolen off them, leading to poverty as no one gains from their work due to others stealing things off them. Morality is an agreement not to sabotage each other's lives so that we can all have a better time. It's driven by self-interest and happens to be good collectively too. It comes out of reason, and it approximates the Golden Rule. Where religions go wrong is that they add fake rules of morality and set them in stone by tying them to vicious fairies which must be obeyed, but if you strip out all that crap, you have something universal which is completely independent of religion.

I subscribe pretty exactly to that take on non-theistically-based morality! Thanks for that clear definition, David!

4

I have to go with the first two in combination. Much of our 'morality' is genetically based & part of our mammalian/primate ancestry i.e.: reciprocal altruism), apart from this, & for specific answers to specific situations/problems I attempt to follow most of the precepts of Humanism primarily as set forth in "The Affirmations of Humanism: A Statement of Principles" by Paul Kurtz. Do I always succeed? Nope, I'm 'flawed', & often lazy. But I am a work in progress.

So, I didn't vote, as I couldn't go for just one choice.

I agree. I was going to say morality is intrinsic to evolution. We survived as a pack animal and as such learned to treat others as we wished to be treated. And I subscribe to the Affirmations of Humanism too. What a shallow life is one where values are not held. As Socrates said "The unexamined life is not worth living"

2

Of course, I might be deluding myself about my sense of morality. I rarely use the word moral except with rspect to Morel mushrooms.

Some people think some of the kind things I've done are immoral and some the things I thought were mean others have considered moral or neutral.

2

I know what I consider a "good moral compass" and I follow that. No other sources have impact on what I do with my life.

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I am not now nor have I ever been religious. My morality may not fit that of a church... but I treat people as I wish to be treated and I try not to be too much of an asshole. We can easily question the morality in the Bible, I don’t see it as a good place to get your morality. You want warped morality read the Old Testament or look at the tenets of islam! I’m extremely good without god and even better without religion.

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Morality comes from your societal view of everything. That's right. Your society creates and shapes your morality. That is why morality is different in other parts of the world. That is also why morality was different in a past time frame, and also why morality is ever changing. The basic idea over time is that we learn by doing that nobody wants to be poked in the eye by a sharp stick. Gods had nothing to do with it.

1

I did not vote for what is good for humanity. Sometimes there is a conflict. For example, less people die in a society with no access to guns. Those who die for lack of a gun are collateral damage in this statistically better society. So I think society's morals should be aimed at the level of the individual and not the group.

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Although you presume that our morals are of a religious nature I find them to be common sense that religion incorporated into religion. One must agree to do not steal, honor your parents and do to others what you want them to do to you. Youi can skip the ones to god but these and some of the others make good sense.

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