I found a link today which reminded me of a Rowan Atkinson sketch. I know there are different ideas about when the “Sabbath” actually is. Christians seems to set Sunday as the “holy” day, whereas Jews mark the time between sunset on Friday and Sunset on Saturday instead. Of course, it all comes down to biblical interpretation.
While not particularly relevant to the rest of us (although, I discovered recently on my travels to Adelaide - one of Australia’s smaller major cities1 - shops still aren’t allowed to open on Sundays, and I’m sure we can blame the Christians for that) I thought “Remember the Sabbath” was quite interesting.
Oh, and then - of course - the Rowan Atkinson sketch I was reminded of… (This was linked recently from one of the Atheist blogs I read - I forget where, but if you think it might have been you, let me know and I’ll link to you)
It seems a common claim that morality is impossible without religion. While I might agree that in some cases religion (or, more specifically, the fear of eternal damnation) can be a pretty good motivator, I think that a morality that doesn’t rely on religion is not just possible, but it’s a lot more desirable. Last time, I outlined a somewhat extreme view of what some people think of morality without religion. In this post, I’d like to explain how I feel Christian morality (and religion-based morality in general) can be flawed and potentially abused. Next time, I’ll outline some of my ideas about morality.
With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg1
As Steven Weinberg suggests, some people use religion to justify their immorality. I remember a joke I was told a few years ago (by a Lawyer, I think - who knew they had a sense of humour?), that talked about there being two types of Catholics - those who felt so restricted by their religion, that they had very dull lives, and those who live life to the full (”immorality” and all), and then simply ask forgiveness. Religion, I suppose, can be quite liberating for one’s morality if one can always rely on the forgiveness of sins.
According to one book (at least, the review of it that I read) evangelical Christian teenagers, although likely to think not having sex before marriage is the right thing to do, are actually more likely than many other Christians to commit this “sinful” act.
80 percent think sex should be saved for marriage. But thinking is not the same as doing. Evangelical teens are actually more likely to have lost their virginity than either mainline Protestants or Catholics.2
Sure, maybe you could argue that these teenagers “aren’t true Christians”, otherwise they wouldn’t be having sex before marriage3. But then, that wouldn’t stop people using the bible to justify slavery (as long as the slaves are from neighbouring nations)4, and killing people who work on the Sabbath56. Not to mention all the historical atrocities committed in the name of religion7.
I’m definitely not claiming that religious people are necessarily immoral, but I think I’ve shown that it’s certainly possible to “live by the rules” of religion, and act completely immorally (honestly, does anyone still think slavery is moral?). There’s people out there clearly saying that religion is not always a force for good8, and they make some pretty good points!
Why, then, do people persist in claiming that religion is the only way to live a moral life?
Here are some of the sites I’ve been looking at recently, that I wanted to share:
What if the Women of the Bible Had All Been Feminists? - “After the ladies loosen up around the table, Mary Magdalene would begin by talking about sex workers? rights, and returning belly dancing to its origin as an exercise for giving birth.”
It seems a common claim that morality is impossible without religion. While I might agree that in some cases religion (or, more specifically, the fear of eternal damnation) can be a pretty good motivator, I think that a morality that doesn’t rely on religion is not just possible, but it’s a lot more desirable. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be outlining what some people think of morality without religion, why religion-based morality is potentially suspect, and my ideas on morality.
Some have claimed that atheism is responsible for immoral acts, and that lack of Christian morality (ignoring the possibility of other types of morality) in schools is responsible for school shootings. Both these articles describe various violent acts and crimes committed by young USAians1, and then jump right into blaming Atheists and Darwinists (perhaps I’m missing a step in the argument, but I can’t see it - although “How to build a bomb in the public school system” does have one piece of evidence - the words “Natural Selection” on one shooter’s T-shirt):
Now do you realize who the people are who are responsible for children having gotten so violent? The answer is ATHEISTS and other non-beleivers [sic.] in the true God. So you may ask how can this be? The reason why they are responsible is because they hate God and teach their children against God (which is the highest form of child abuse). For example: Atheists hate the TEN COMMANDMENTS because God is their Author. 2
Aside from the obvious problem that Atheists, by definition, are unable to hate God (because as far as they’re concerned God doesn’t even exist) I see no logical reason why someone couldn’t hate the Christian God, but still “love” the 10 commandments. Jews and Muslims still have the 10 commandments, but in this writers mind, I’m sure Jews and Muslims would classify as “non-believers in the true God” (even though, technically, all three religions have the same roots, and thus the same God). There’s also plenty of people who live arguably moral lives while breaking at least the first few commandments. Depending on your interpretation, it’s also possible that all Christians break the 1st commandment, if you read “thou shalt have no other Gods before me”3 as endorsing strict monotheism, given that Christianity (arguably) invokes three Gods4 - I think Jews and Muslims are safe, though. Then, of course, there’s those of us who choose not to kill, steal or commit adultery, and still manage to respect our parents every so often - I don’t need to love (or even believe in) the Christian God for that.
There may be many religion-hating Atheists (or, anti-theists - of which Richard Dawkins comes to mind - while I’ve seen him in documentaries, I have yet to actually read his work, though, so I could be wrong), but a God-hating Atheist is an oxymoron. I certainly don’t think taking issue with religion necessarily makes you amoral, just like I don’t think that following a religion (whatever it may be) necessarily makes you moral.
One final thought - how many “immoral” people do you think are out there in this world? 5%? 20%? 50%? Well, if you subscribe to the theory that without Christianity, you’re necessarily immoral, you are immediately saying that 67%5 are incapable of living moral lives - not including immoral “Christians”, of course. Is there really a God who would condemn the majority of the world’s population simply because they were raised in a religion other than Christianity?
(To Be Continued… - Morality Part 2 will be posted next Sunday)
Residents of the United States of America - often incorrectly (in my mind) called Americans. “The Americas” cover a lot more ground than just the U.S.A. [↩]
Suggested by AthiestWager, although I think it’s definitely possible to be Christian and follow the 1st commandment - it all comes down to interpretation [↩]
According to Wikipedia, only 33.06% of the world’s population are Christian [↩]
Here are some of the sites I’ve been looking at recently, that I wanted to share:
Heed the word of God - An amusing commentary about George Bush’s claims that God is speaking to him
I Believe In Evolution, Except For The Whole Triassic Period - From The Onion: “Scientific reasoning can explain nearly every stage of life from the Big Bang to the present day. I say ‘nearly’ because the period commonly known as the Triassic period was quite obviously the work of the Lord God Almighty.”
Ars takes a field trip: the Creation Museum - The new “Creationist Museum” in Kentucky - “This walk through history museum will be a wonderful alternative to the evolutionary natural history museums that are turning countless minds against the gospel of Christ”
Here are some of the sites I’ve been looking at recently, that I wanted to share:
YouTube - Red State Update: Night at the Creation Museum - Jackie and Dunlap on Kentucky’s new Creation Museum, the new Billy Graham library, and Murfreesboro’s own Bible Park. Plus, a sneak peek at the new Ben Stiller comedy “Night at the Creation Museum”.
26 Reasons What You Think is Right is Wrong - A cognitive bias is something that our minds commonly do to distort our own view of reality. Here are the 26 most studied and widely accepted cognitive biases. Just show’s how important it is to really think about things.
Nearly 1 in 3 Believe Bible is Literal Word of God - Believe in the literal word of the Bible is strongest among those whose schooling stopped with high school and declines steadily with educational level, with only 20% of college graduates holding that view and 11% of those with an advanced degree.
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