Serious question

[mteson]

Most of you know that I am not a religious person. I would even go so far as to call myself "antireligious," that's how little I care for religion. Fewer of you know that I am so nonreligious that I don't even believe in morality as we know it. I literally think "morality" is the name we give to the consensus our society forms about what is right

Comments

[bryn]

I too am as atheist and as relativist as they come. I too have no problem remaining faithful. And I too get seriously irked by people who associate "morality" with religion.

[bessie_smith]

Religion and morality are, more often than not, mutually exclusive. And when you add politics to that, then you often have a situation where someone, in a bid to get into office, is just using the veneer of religiosity as a means to sucker a constituency into voting for them. I don't think there really are many politicians who actually believe all the religious talk that comes out of their mouths. They may go around professing an absolute morality, but the simple fact that they so often do things that go against what they're professing tells you they're full of shit

[drewfansler]

The irony of religion/faith-based morality is that within itself is full of double-talk.

First, the Bible is an ancient collection of stories written and re-written, revised and passed through countless hands over the years. It's a huge mass of material with many different voices saying many different things. Leviticus 20:13 says homosexuals are worthy of death, while in the book of Matthew, Jesus says "what you did for the least of these, you have done for me"-which can be interpreted as standing up for those who are persecuted.

Of course, that's if you consider yourself a Christian and have actually read it. I am never surprised when an atheist can outduel a Christian when it comes to the Bible. Many Christians simply rely upon whatever their preacher or bretheren say and do