I have previously spoken on God, knowledge, and origins, as we move on, we need to account for the moral values. Secular Humanism is the same as atheism, there is no supernatural, or a transcended God, that is personal, that can transcend and interact in supernatural ways. Nor has God given man moral values, that are written upon his heart. The fact of the matter is, in Christianity moral values have their objective and universal basis in the immutable nature of God. Atheist believe in a number of different opinions concerning moral values. 1. That morals come about by a cultural agreement. 2. Morals are subjective. 3. that we make our moral values, because it is a behavior that gets in the way of society. 4. Moral values are discovered. This is not an exhausted list by any means.
The first thing we need to recognize is that all these position fail to provide for true moral values. The idea that morals come about by cultural agreement fails in that societies live to far apart to even come together for any such agreement universally. Second, if morals are subjective, than you could not condemn another society for doing what they think is right; thus you couldn't condemn Hitler for killing millions of people because Hitler thought he was doing the right thing. Third, the idea that doing
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Although Christianity is faith base it is supported by evidence. Many evidential proofs when pieced together create a cumulative case for Christianity, which any reasonable person can believe. Just as a case in court where the jury is ask to take the circumstantial evidence and render a verdict “beyond a reasonable doubt,” not empirical. This is what the atheistic materialist is asking for when ask to believe in Christianity. It goes with out saying that the principal of empirical epistemology itself is not empirically verifiable. Thus, it refutes
Who has determined these set of morals and that they are the right way of living? People are going to do what makes them happy. If believing in morals and having faith make a person feel better and in turn they live a happy life.
James Rachels claims that morality is absolute. In his article Mortality is Not Relative, he discusses the fallacies of Cultural Relativism as well as the Cultural Differences Argument. Rachels believes that all cultures have some values in common and that there is way less disagreement between them than it seems. He brings up the example of the Eskimo’s and how they choose to kill the infants that they cannot take care of, “The Eskimo’s values are not all that different from our values. It is only that life forces upon them choices that we do not have to make” (Rachels). Another example of this would be how in some cultures it is wrong to eat cows because they believe that the souls of their ancestors and deceased are reincarnated into the cow. In our culture we would not eat our grandparents either, the only difference is we do not believe that they become cows, thus we would have no problem eating cows. “Now do we want to say that their values are different than ours? No, the difference lies elsewhere. The difference is in our belief systems, not in our values” (Rachels).
This movie demonstrated how much religion is a human construct. Kumare made his own religion by incorporating elements from other religions and coming up with his own elements. His religion, however, had no power without his followers who gave life to his teachings and ideas. The community gave life to a religion that would have been powerless with the social construct provided by the community. When Vikram was young, he would watch his grandmother praying and as an adult, he wondered if his made up religion could provide people with that same peace. He incorporated meditation, specifically his trademark blue light meditation, and his own form of yoga. He initially brought his community together in the yoga studio, but he slowly expanded the places they went and he helped them build strong bonds during their rituals.
Therefore, the only reason one has to behave ‘morally’ is because god, the bible or Jesus says you should. Moreover, the consequences of behaving in contradiction to Christian values or behaving ‘immorally’ involve punishment by god whether it be in this life or the after-life. This philosophy sheds some light on why atheism is feared, despised and misunderstood as well as why atheists are persecuted in America. If there is no god to answer to or no consequences for ‘bad behavior’, why then, would anyone behave in a good moral fashion? What is to prevent deviant behavior, if there is no god? These questions are the main basis for the Christian argument which maintains that atheists are untrustworthy, immoral or amoral, social deviants and therefore lesser human beings. Some have gone as far to say that atheists are unpatriotic, un-American and do not even have the right to be acknowledged as citizens of the United States.
The Rachels and Vuletic all conclude that morality is independent of religion. From the Vuletic article it stated, “The only reason I can fathom for why believers might think transcendental moral facts are better explained by theism than by atheism is because--speaking from personal experience as a former Christian--believers have been psychologically conditioned to feel that a complete explanation has been offered for anything and everything whenever someone says the word "God.” I agree with this statement. I do not believe that morality is dependent on religion. I believe that the only reason why people believe this is because believing in God allows them to follow what he stands for. I do not believe that God or even “God’s laws” can be followed by everyone and demonstrate what is right from wrong. Even though I am not a religious person, I can see why this would make life easier. Your views are justified by God, because you are follows the beliefs of God.
Also He declares that we were also created to have relationship and dwell with him forever (Ecclesiastes 3:11). In contrast to the Secularist’s view of morality, they have a relativism view. There are no such thing as sin, evil, and absolute good or bad. Christian worldview states that morality is derived from the person of God (2 Timothy 3:16, Consider, p. 62).
At the core of Atheism, I believe, is a moral relativism. I don't mean this as a harsh critique, suggesting that Atheists are immoral, but as a comparison to a devoutly religious person. People of faith see their moral values as coming from God, written in Scriptures, and the word is passed along at the churches, synagogues, and mosques. They see moral codes such as the Ten Commandments as being divinely given and eternal, not to be questioned and interpreted differently to fit modern society's lifestyle. Atheists, on the other hand, view the world in more shades of grey, a civilization where morals are malleable and ever changing.
Rachel Parish, I totally agree with you, morality is truly relative and also moral is defined by the cultures and the time period. I mean if we take a look at how moral norms and culture have been charged in the American society is quietly amazing. Indeed, a lot of it have something to do with the subcultures, and also with the time period. In the 80s Walt Whitman, a poet; was very fascinating with the ideals of homosexuality. At that time, most of his poetries were focusing on homosexuality which almost ruined his reputation since around this era homosexuality wasn't something people couldn't understand.
These arguments were made by fictional Ima Relativist created by Harry Gensler. Ima Relativist believes that morality is about objective facts. There is more to these arguments that once they are well analyzed they are read differently with another meaning to them. These arguments are against objective values. “Since morality is a product of culture, there can’t be objective moral truths” (Shafer-Landau, P. 205). The problem with this quote is that what a culture produces can express truths about how people live. Everything we say and do is based off our culture and what we were taught to do, yet some express objective truths.
Religion and religious traditions both have ethical beliefs as a common set. Meaning, they have moral meanings and understandings. They don't actually measure the same set of ethics, however, many religions have some set of ethics and they believe that those particular ethics are mandated by some supernatural forces. For instance, Christianity have 10 commandments.
There is a strong Christian stance against humanism because humanists believe things that go against Christian beliefs such as their beliefs that God’s existence cannot be proved, people are thrown into this life without meaning except for the meaning they make for themselves, and that there is no God. As Christians, we know that God exists and could be proved through our faith and personal relationship with Him. We also believe that God knew us by name and knew our purpose even before we were born because Jeremiah 1:5 states, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” meaning that we as Christians have a purpose in this life.
I've always debated using reason, using the "way things really are." However, I have undergone, a major shift in perspective; no, not to religion, for that belongs to the same species of thought as naturalism, just with different specifics. Indeed, I cannot argue that what I say here is the way things "really" are, because my words are like the pointing finger; the thing being pointed at is beyond the limits of language and representational thought.
There has been a clash between secular thought and religion since its formation of societies in the classical age. Both have made an equal effect on the culture of each empire by influencing people to change their belief on the world. Major religions have made interactions, which affected some of their ideas for what they have become now. The major religions during the classical age are Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, Daoism, and Zoroastrianism. These religions also have similarities and differences between each other in which it has involved them to what they've become. The major empires that have affected are Persia, India, China, Greece, and Rome. These empires' culture has influenced by religion to the
In this report I will be comparing and contrasting the similarities and differences between the religious tradition Christianity, with the world view of Secular Humanism.
Many people ask why morals should be able to prevail over people's desires. This is a valid question, one that must be answered if morals are to be defended. Morals must not only be reasonable for people to follow, but they must also have good reasons for people to follow them, otherwise people would not bother adhering to them. These reasons should motivate people to follow these rules. They must appeal to their perceived interests, but if these rules are to apply to all people, they cannot serve the interests of just a few people. Moral rules are not for imposing your own values and tastes on other people! As Narveson puts it, "[w]hat matters for morals is that its rules are individually reasonable for people to accept and to follow, so long as others do too" (MM, 16).