Quote:
Originally posted by Superman
So that's what I'm saying. If we can agree that our sense of "right" and "wrong" cannot come from a sociological source, then can atheists give a satisfactory explanation of why they feel it, and why they behave morally?
|
I think that a very good argument can be made that what is right and wrong can and does come from a sociological source. In fact, what is right and wrong varies among cultures and as time passes what is right and wrong changes - even when "religious" teachings stay the same, so I think a better argument is that religion *isn't* the moral basis for behavior these days.
From my own introspection, I would have to believe that moral and ethical behavior is simply ingrained in each person. I really don't think that fear of "going to hell" has any more bearing on whether a guy decides to cheat on his wife, for instance, than fear of the death penalty running through a guy's mind as he commits murder, etc.
I think it is interesting that people actually claim to "behave" out of fear of adverse consequences (judgment) when they die. That's like a child not pulling his sister's hair *only* because he knows his mom will get mad at him - not because pulling her hair isn't the right thing to do in the first place. In other words, the implication is that - without religion - religious people would have no idea what was right and wrong and how to behave themselves. Scary.
Mike