Essay:Godbotherer's morals
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A short rant on the existence and source of morality among the Godfearing. (Brought on by the Dawkins = no morals quip by Bradley)
Godbotherers derive their morals from the diktats of a supernatural being. They have no other foundation for responsible behaviour. The motivation to abide by these diktats are fear [1] of the being and fear of being punished in an "afterlife". In other words: they don't behave out of their own beliefs and ethical viewpoint but because they are told to.
For a Christian Godbotherer to claim that they have a basis for morality in the Bible is the height of stupidity. The "Old Testament" consists of an interpreted "history" of a bronze agesorry Akj! middle eastern, theocratic tribe of semi-nomads. It was largely written by the ruling priest class with the covert (overt?) intention of controlling the population and maintaining their status. The nature of the commanding [2] supernatural being is more reminiscent of a WWII German POW camp commandant than of a friend and ally. The only encouragement used to foster any morality is a vague promise of better times in a time after one has died; apart from this there is the constant threat of punishment. Cleverly the priesthood interpret the many disasters which the tribespeople cannot avoid witnessing and remembering as actually the direct result of actions by this being, thus magnifying the rulers' seeming authority as its representatives. The obvious fairy story nature of the "creation of the world" is the result of the same enquiring minds (later to produce scientists) to explain existence, while at the same time emphasising the power of the being, again bolstering the priests' power.
The history is written by different people with differing immediate motives at different times and places using different recollections, so it obviously includes contradictions. The effort a Godbotherer will put in to explaining the threats and contradictions is wonderful to watch, convolutions about "literal" versus "figurative" abound.
In short: Godbotherers have only fear to define their morals.
PS: PJR wrote:
“”... It was you expressing your frustration of a view that you don't agree with in a manner which you must know is inappropriate (and, incidentally, using fallacious arguments). As such, it was tantamount to vandalism, and on top of your insult to Bradley (on the Richard Dawkins talk page) means that I'm giving you a block.
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| —here |
I'd ask him to demonstrate the fallacies, but alas I can't 'cause I've been blockinated 