kowalskil Posted December 20, 2012 Report Share Posted December 20, 2012 The fight for religious freedom in America This PBS video, broadcasted yesterday, is worth watching and thinking about. http://video.pbs.org/video/2315729403 It is full of topics worth debating, either here or elsewhere. Please share the link with those who might also be interested. Best wishes to all, Ludwik Kowalski http://csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/life/intro.html . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moralist Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 The practical value of religion is as a vessel which carries moral values from generation to generation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dream_weaver Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 Which moral values would those be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
softwareNerd Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 The practical value of religion is as a vessel which carries moral values from generation to generation.Analogously, we can say that dictatorial monarchies were a vessel which allowed day-to-day law and order to reign. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moralist Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 Analogously, we can say that dictatorial monarchies were a vessel which allowed day-to-day law and order to reign. Immoral people create the demand for dictators due to their failure to govern themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicky Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 The practical value of religion is as a vessel which carries moral values from generation to generation. Even if moral values were a liquid in need of a vessel to be carried in, we probably should pick something less porous than a vessel made of fairy-tales and irrationality (with the occasional kid touching sprinkled in for good measure). But moral values aren't a liquid, they're principles of conduct. What they need is not a vessel, it's rational arguments which convince people to adopt them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
softwareNerd Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 Immoral people create the demand for dictators due to their failure to govern themselves.Analogously, irrational (i.e. immoral) people create the demand for religion due to their failure to see that morality does not require a God. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moralist Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 Even if moral values were a liquid in need of a vessel to be carried in, we probably should pick something less porous than a vessel made of fairy-tales and irrationality (with the occasional kid touching sprinkled in for good measure). That act is clearly defined by religious values as being evil. Doing evil under the color of religious authority is also clearly defined as evil. It is advised that evil people who cause children to stumble should have millstones hung around their necks and thrown into the sea. There is hardly a condemnation more explicitely vigorous than that. Would you blame the moral values carried within the vessel of religion for the people in positions of religious authority who violate those religious moral values? But moral values aren't a liquid, they're principles of conduct. How about if they were solid and carried in the basket of religion? What they need is not a vessel, it's rational arguments which convince people to adopt them. And what rational argument would you use to convince a pedophile who already knows what they are doing is wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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