Dear Mario, Morality does not need the compass of religion to guide it. It is inherent. Frazer in the Golden Bough, wonderfully details how societies living in isolation of each other invariably reach the same conclusion. Pyramids for example are to be found from Central America (Aztec and Mayan) to the Middle East (Egypt), without there being any trade link between these civilisations.
Whether this inherent morality is to be defined as "God's invisible hand guiding us" or whether it is just the evolutionary progression of man's intelligence is a matter of debate. But certainly whether one is a theist or an atheist, we have long past the point where we need a codified book to provide us with "checks and balances". Elisabeth -------------------------------------- > What I have asserted, as an example, is that "my > imaginary friend" and all his followers with the > collected wisdom of thousands of years have > developed > a rock-solid moral compass - regardless of Santosh's > baseless assertions to the contrary - and > collectively > ensure a certain level of checks and balances on our > morality. Membership in such a morally based group, > which is voluntary, means one has signed on to the > program, and is willing to abide by the rules, to > the > best of one's ability. > > > On the other hand the unorganized individual > atheist, > with no moral friend real or imaginary, and no > membership in any morally based group, has only a > biased, self-serving moral compass, assuming he or > she > has a moral compass, and the results are whatever > they > say they are, with only civil and criminal law as a > controlling consequence. > > > Where there is overlap, the unorganized individuals > will be just as good as most members of the morally > based group. > > > > _____________________________________________ > Do not post admin requests to the list. > Goanet mailing list (Goanet@goanet.org) > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _____________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. Goanet mailing list (Goanet@goanet.org)
