[thechat] Religious dependance

[Joe Crawford]

On Fri, 17 Jan 2003, Madhu Menon wrote:
> You don't need to be religious to be civil, honest, ethical, or treat
> others well.

I never claimed otherwise.

I will say that the lack of religion does not guarantee civility, honesty,
ethics, or good treatment of others. But as a framework for behavior, we
can agree that religion can be a basis for some peoples' ethical
standpoints? And that dismissing the religion of these folks could be seen
as dismissing the very core of how they view their existence?

This is why I tread lightly. :-)

> But I'm happy that most religions *seem* to preach peace, love and
> tolerance. (Of course, the "tolerance" varies widely.)
>
> Hey, George W Bush is deeply religious, but peaceful? Honest? Ethical? He
> certainly doesn't believe in "love your enemies" :)
> (Didn't his dad say something to the effect that atheists shouldn't be
> considered patriotic citizens?)

And hold on there pardner, I can do that trick to. Let me bring up a
famous athiest, Stalin --- so much for atheism as a creed by which people
can live more ethically than the religious.

The hipocrisy game is too easy. We can quote people who don't
practice what they preach all day long, and it neither proves nor
disproves religion or atheism as a means to live by.

	Joe
--
Joe "ArtLung" Crawford
San Diego California USA: http://artlung.com/