20 gram Soul » sex

20 gram Links for July 13th ’07

del.icio.us — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 00:35:45 +0000

Here are some of the sites I’ve been looking at recently, that I wanted to share:

Letter to the Editor: Kick the Atheists out of America – “I don’t care if they have never committed a crime, atheists are the reason crime is rampant.”
Philosophy and the proof of God’s existence by Roger Jones – A nice summary of many of the traditional “proofs” of God’s existance, including the argument from design, pascals wager, and the philosophies of Kant, Hegal and others.
What Evolution Left Behind On Humans – “I?ve always been fascinated with human evolution. To me, the most fascinating part of human evolution is learning about what was ?left behind? on our bodies from our ancestors and from our prenatal development.”
Wife Beating – It?s therapeutic – I’m glad someone’s cleared this up. Wife beating is not a rule, it’s just therapeutic. Oh, but there are limits!
Pharyngula: They’re running out of virgins! – Nice tasteless video about terrorists debating how many virgins they get in paradise

Morality Part 2: Immoral Religion

Richard — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 14:00:00 +0000

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.

Immoral Religion

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?

http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/26814.html
http://www.slate.com/id/2167293?nav=tap3
Of course, you might also argue that sex before marriage isn’t immoral, in which case, I’d agree with you
Leviticus 25:44
Exodus 35:2
Some other great examples at Follow the Bible?
The Inquisition, The Crusades, etc.
Link via Religious Education With Warts

20 gram Links for June 6th ’07

del.icio.us — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 00:52:58 +0000

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”.
Question Everything… – Funny photo of graffiti on a wall
Even Evangelical Teens Do It – How religious beliefs do, and don’t, influence sexual behavior.
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.
With God on side – Opinion – theage.com.au – “Atheism might be all the rage, but Christianity is about more than fashion”
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.