At 02:22 PM 3/11/2008 -0400, Ed Leafe wrote: >On Mar 11, 2008, at 2:51 PM, Charlie Coleman wrote: > > > But what I'm wondering is where you get your basis of morals. If all we > really have is ourselves as the basis, then who is to say > > who is right and wrong? > > Did it ever occur to you that religions got their morals from >society, and not the other way around?
I was trying to find my notes on some classes/discussions/studies I had on the origin of societies. I think they had some good citations there. But I couldn't find 'em. But the summary understanding I recall is that societies end up being formed based on the family units that originally found the society. And, in the past, the familial/tribal groups already have a basis of their 'religious' understanding before they form into the more encompassing/enlarging society. I'll have to dig around some more. I remember it was an interesting study. > Every other social animal in the world has an innate sense of how > to >recognize their own and how to deal with them. Why would people be any >different? Hmm... Generally, the "social animals" commit immediate violence upon anyone else of their kind that trespass in their territory - and, in like kind, the goal of the younger is to kill off the older/weaker to ensure their own survival. Most also attempt to mate with as many others of their kind as possible (not all, but most). It seems our "western" laws and "morals" are in contradiction to those aspects, and probably many others. > Have you ever noticed that by and large, people are the same all >around the world? Customs may differ, but societal norms are >remarkably similar. It is a very self-serving attitude of religions to >claim that morals are handed down from On High, with Religion X as the >only way to really get the inside scoop on how we are supposed to >behave. Actually, I don't think that is true. People themselves are similar, but their interactions are anything but similar across the world. The early culture of the Japanese is vastly different than the early culture of the tribes in the heart of Africa, and both are different than our early culture. In modern times, some cultures are becoming similar, but they did not start off that way (at least from what I've studied). -Charlie _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
