--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, sgrayatlarge <no_re...@...> wrote: > > So are you saying people are naturally good and will do > the right (not shitty thing)? Or only Buddhists and atheists?
I am saying that some people try to do the right thing, and that doing so has nothing whatsoever to do with whether they are Buddhists, atheists, or deists. They do it because it matters to them. Other people choose not to do the right thing. They do this because doing the right thing doesn't matter to them. Belief in God or non-belief in God has nothing to do with it. Neither does what any of them *say* they believe about "doing the right thing." The only thing that matters is what they *do*. > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "PaliGap" <compost1uk@> wrote: > > > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > > > > > Still riffing on this, I think that many people's issue > > > > with an eternal universe is not that it postulates No God > > > > (although that pushes a LOT of buttons because "It just > > > > isn't *done* to question God's existence"), but because > > > > it implies No Purpose. > > > > > > Yes, that, I'm sure. But what about "Justice"? Thinking > > > out loud here, but... > > > > > > Just as you could scarcely claim a difference between > > > an English football fan and a drunk... > > > > LOL. > > > > > ...it seems there > > > might similarly be little difference between, say, a > > > Buddhist and an atheist. > > > > Actually, in terms of ethics there is sometimes > > little difference. Many of the atheists I've met > > who label themselves *as* atheists have a remarkably > > similar definition of ethics to many of the Buddhists > > I've met. That is, that ethics come from within. A > > belief or non-belief in God does not change that. In > > both cases the people choose to live ethically for > > the simple reason that it matters to *them*, not > > to some supposedly all-seeing Daddy or some omni- > > present and equally watchful set of Laws Of Nature. > > > > It's the same notion as "Doing A Good Job Is More > > Fun Than Doing A Shitty Job." :-) > > >
