Quote from: justmeinoz on June 14, 2010, 06:23:50 AM
Easy, Comrade Stalin said it is right! 30 million dead people prove it!
The problem with atheism, as I see it is that it tends towards being 100% right, with no room for doubt. If there are no absolute values, just what the law says is right, then totalitarian rule is an easy step.
With a religious viewpoint there is at least a moral position to fall back on in any dispute with the Establishment. It may not be easy, but it does at least exist. I am assuming we are talking Ethical Monotheism here, not Aztec or Viking human sacrifice.
Bonhoffer no doubt wrestled at least a bit with the question of killing Nazis, but I doubt that Eichmann had any such moral debates with his conscience.
In many ways the problem is this type of discussion is in two languages that are the exactly same but are completely different.
(Any Irish here will have no problem understanding that perfectly!)
From many Atheist points of view, it is religious law and moral that are oppressive, fascist, sexist, destructive, war-mongering and blood-thirsty, and that the only way to breach that is to do away with religion altogether, so that morality and good are finally restored.
We can argue all day and night about this, but the conclusion is: Neither belief nor disbelief in a deity makes a person moral and just. I would say that the weak-willed might need a personification like Satan in order to frighten them out of doing bad things, but God never comes into it at all.
Pointing fingers and going: I'm so much more moral than you are! Well; it never helped anyone, and can prove only the contrary.
A little side-note, here: While I agree that many religions practised human sacrifice, the ones who didn't were not necessarily better. You might find passages in your bible that clearly state that homicide is rightful and just, and that God wants you to go out and kill entire groups of people. That God even revels in this killing. Which basically equates religious war to human sacrifice, only on a far grander scale.
The Viking religions aren't a very good point to go after, because yes; there were extremist cults that practised human sacrifice, but to be honest: some Christian extremist cults today stíll practise human sacrifice. Also, the vikings contributed a lot more to our modern social standards and moral practices than, say, the Romans did (not really an accomplishment, but still). They did have a lot of ethical morals and charities. And they did have a lot of idiots, as well, as does every single group of humans at any given point in time.
The Aztecs, while often hailed as barbarians, and truth be told, in many ways they were, did also have their own beautiful things. Not just items, artefacts and art, but also philosophy, mythology, moral codes and laws.
'Ethical Monotheism' is a direct insult to any religion that isn't monotheistic in nature, and a direct attack aimed at anyone who doesn't agree with your own religion, as the statement basically tells us: This is the only right way, and everyone else is unethical and wrong.
Sorry, but I do feel offended by that.
