stevestory
Posts: 13407
Joined: Oct. 2005
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| Quote | 53
Seversky
January 15, 2020 at 6:29 pm
Evolutionary materialism, if by that you mean the scientific theory of evolution in biology which treats the living world as physical phenomena, is neither nihilistic – it does not advocate any particular political ideology – nor is it amoral, except in the sense that it is a theory about what is that does not commit the naturalistic fallacy of trying to derive ought from is.
What surprises me is that ID/Creationists pretend that evolutionists or atheists are unable to form moral judgments. Although, thinking about it, I shouldn’t be. ID/Creationists have such a low opinion of humanity – even though it is supposed to be the pinnacle of God’s creation – that they think we cannot know moral from immoral unless God tells us. They would not know by themselves that it is wrong to kidnap, rape and murder a child unless God told them. Without that, apparently, if they saw something like that happening right before their eyes, they would just scratch their heads in bemusement and wonder what they should do.
What is even more alarming is that they hand over all responsibility for morals to their God. Whatever He says goes. Without question. Even though nowhere does He give any kind of detailed rationale for any of His moral edicts. So, if a Christian were convinced that their God had appeared to them and told them to sacrifice their child as a demonstration of their faith, they would do it. Without question. That’s not morality. That’s the Nazi defense of “I was just following orders”.
As for this laughable accusation that atheists are somehow “stealing” moral principles from Christians, it may come as surprise to you to learn that Christianity does not hold any copyright on them and did not originate all of them. The Golden Rule, for example, or its equivalent can be found in other faiths and cultures, some of which pre-date Christianity. Should we accuse Christians of appropriating that principle from other cultures and then claiming it as their own?
And before the inevitable accusations of Christian-bashing, let me say that I am certain that there are very many fine Christians who live the life exemplified by Jesus in the Bible. They work with the poor, the dispossessed, the homeless, the hopeless, the sick and the dying. They do so without much recognition or recompense and without complaint. It is a tragedy then that some of the most prominent so-called Christian figures here in the US have abandoned the principles of their faith in pursuit of wealth and political power. They excuse the bigotry, hypocrisy and corruption of those in power and utterly fail to hold them to the moral standards they claim to espouse. If the theory of evolution is tarnished by its association with the eugenics movement then how much more is US Christianity tarnished by its toleration of those who do not deserve it.
You are, of course, free to ignore the injunction against throwing stones unless you are without sin and attack evolution or materialism or atheism or agnosticism on moral grounds but, if you do so, expect to be answered in kind. |
If you pay attention to the creationists, and a bunch of news stories, It’s easy to think that all Christians are dumb scumbags. I’ve known several Christians who were not scumbags, and demonstrably smarter than me, so I don’t think that. It’s worth reminding oneself every now and then, that Christianity is not fully represented by BatShit77, and others of that type, and there are plenty of Wesley Elsberrys and Fred Rogerses too.
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