JAStewart Posted December 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2008 ^ It's not the root of all evil. Stalin; atheist. Stalin; evil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sassermaet Posted December 11, 2008 Report Share Posted December 11, 2008 Anyone who knows me knows that I am not PC, and nothing really offends me. Ditto that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justlookin Posted December 11, 2008 Report Share Posted December 11, 2008 ^ It's not the root of all evil. Stalin; atheist. Stalin; evil. JAS...genius, how can i argue with that man? Your deliberating skills know no bounds. Whats your religious stance JAS? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EM Posted December 12, 2008 Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 ^ It's not the root of all evil. Stalin; atheist. Stalin; evil.Don't forget that he did spend quite a bit of time enrolled in an Orthodox seminary studying to become a priest. Although he quit, some think he picked up a few ideas there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAStewart Posted December 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 I'm an atheist too, but I know that the root of all evil is not religion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinner72 Posted December 12, 2008 Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 ^^ but the justification of most evil is religion... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justlookin Posted December 12, 2008 Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 "Evil" is a religious term used to incite fear into those who the higher echelons wish to do their bidding. There is no such thing as evil per se. Just human nature. If you wish to interperate bad happenings or actions as evil then i suggest you re-think your religious stance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAStewart Posted December 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 Evil is just a word that I used, I don't use it with any religion connotations. This quote sums up the situation imo: "Good people will do good things and bad people will do bad things, but it takes religion to make a good person do a bad thing." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KOYAANISQATSI Posted December 12, 2008 Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 it takes religion to make a good person do a bad thing. Not necessarily.It mostly depends on who wears the white hats and who wears the black ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeemsie1989 Posted December 12, 2008 Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 ^^^ I don't know about that. Almost all of ours laws are structured around the basis of Christian beliefs and our moral centres whether we like it or not is derived from Christianity. Personally, I have a strong moral basis (I guess almost derived from Christianity) and an ideology that there is a higher power, but certainly not God in the biblical sense or anything like that. Quite frankly and belief and faith is fine, but religion is the cause for 99.9% of all evil in this world. Fanaticalism. I hate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Medziotojas Posted December 12, 2008 Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 ^^^ I don't know about that. Almost all of ours laws are structured around the basis of Christian beliefs and our moral centres whether we like it or not is derived from Christianity. You could replace 'Christian beliefs' and 'Christianity' with 'common sense' in the above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeemsie1989 Posted December 12, 2008 Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 Not necessarily. Remember what we now call "common sense" certainly didn't exist as it does now 2000 or even 1000 years ago. But whether we like it or not, we are governed at the roots by a book that is held as the best selling non-ficticious and fictious book in the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAStewart Posted December 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 Unfortunately we are not as Secular a nation as I might try to make on. We have a Queen whom is also the head of the Church of England. I don't believe that morals are taken from the bible, certainly not in America's case. Their morals are taken from natural law. If you observe monkey's you'll see that they have similar systems as how humans have - they do not take kindly to one chimp killing another, they do not appreciate theft, and they feel loss etc etc. They were never shown the bible. Morality, for me anyway, doesn't come from the bible, it comes from knowing that if I, and indeed the world, will be better if I work together with people. Its common sense to know that I should get along with my flatmate and not argue/piss each other off. Biblical morality is hellish anyway. Stone kids? No thanks. Others: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArabiaTerra Posted December 12, 2008 Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 Evil is just a word that I used, I don't use it with any religion connotations. This quote sums up the situation imo: "Good people will do good things and bad people will do bad things, but it takes religion to make a good person do a bad thing."I agree, humanity is the root of all evil, but then humanity is the root of all good as well. There's no giant sky pixie to blame it on. I like the quote, but I would change it to: "Good people will do good things and bad people will do bad things, but it takes ideology to make a good person do a bad thing." I'm sure not all Nazi Party members were evil or Soviet Communist Party members for that matter, but their ideology was. Any ideology which puts the collective (whether it's Party, State or Church) above the individual tends to be evil in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinner72 Posted December 12, 2008 Report Share Posted December 12, 2008 I'd be inclined to go with "belief" or "faith" rather than ideology as a replacement word, though really all 3 are interchangeable. I've adopted the view that any belief system, that being a view which requires faith and acceptance of something irrespective of known facts, is a religion. It continues to amaze me how many things today fit this category, especially those practiced by people who otherwise bury traditional church based religions. I totally agree with JAS regarding morals. Danny Wallace summed it up perfectly when he did his "How to start your own country" series. When looking into laws etc, he started with the bibles ten commandments and ended up with the obvious. We only need one law - Be good. And even that shouldn't need to be "taught", as it is built into everyone anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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