Religion vs. Moral Compass —
I think that some hardcore religious folks view people who don’t believe in their religion as fundamentally bad, unenlightened or flawed. Evil, in some cases.
I personally think that non-religious people are just as moral, ethical and kind as everyone else. They simply don’t subscribe to an organized, official group or way of thinking. They are open-minded to the possibility that what they currently believe isn’t the end all, be all of life and reality.
Categorised as: Blogs | Philosophy
Yes, and it’s funny (well, not funny, really, but ironic) how the hardcore religious folks even ignore their own scriptures when persisting in this viewpoint. Take standard, american Christianity, for example.
They love to quote Romans chapter 1 and Romans chapter 3 all day long, but somehow forget/ignore that there’s a Romans chapter 2 right in the middle there, which says, in part [bracketed words added by me for clarification],
“For when Gentiles [i.e. non-jews], who do not have the [jewish] law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them”
…which directly supports what you’re talking about. At least the first part, anyway. Later on in the same chapter 2, he says,
“So, if a man who is uncircumcised [i.e. non-jewish] keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law.”
It’s not necessary to agree with everything he’s writing there to see the point: what’s important is *actually* being moral, ethical, and kind (as you put it). Not hearing/reading/talking about doing those things.
Again, these points are made smack dab in the middle of two other chapters that get a lot of attention by american evangelyfishes. But they tend to get ignored because they are inconvenient to said evanjelyfishes priorities and agendas.
I love how I can think of random things like this and you’re able to back it up like that =)