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March 22, 2010

Comments

Raisinbred

Morality has evolved with humans - it is the basis for society - allowing ppl to be able to live together, to trust, to cooperate. Religious ppl are no more moral than atheists, IMHO.

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I completely agree.
In my school in Germany in the 80's kids were streamed into either Catholic or Protestant streams for RE. If you weren't a Christian, whether because you had a different faith or were an atheist, then you weren't expected to attend RE lessons. Instead we had Ethics lessons.
These were some of the best lessons I attended at school. We got taught to think and act within an ethical framework, we debated the nature of morality, and were given the tools to make our own conclusions about how we fit into a multi-faith society. I always felt these lessons should have been available to everyone, because they felt more relevant than being taught, in school, about a world-view based on a single religion.
As a result of my Ethics lessons I have always found it odd that people bind ethical behaviour to religion. It seems to be the act of binding that allows that morality to be applied questionably or zealously. An ethical framework can be informed by many things; I know while mine is influenced by having been raised by Christian parents within a predominately Judeo-Christian culture, I also know that it has been influenced by the sum of my life experiences, including the travels I have made, the other faiths I have come into contact with, and my own internal sense of justice over those things I am and am not prepared to tolerate about myself and therefore others. As such I firmly feel that to tie morality to only faith, or even faith, is to reduce it and its ability to bind people together.

Al

Incisive, apposite and timely IMO. Thank you :-)

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