Society/Culture Nobody has anything new to say about God.

Bennett.

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This idea that religion has a monopoly over morality is utter horseshit.

If you followed the bible to the letter you would need to execute gay people, blasphemers, adulterers, disobedient children, non-virgins on their wedding night, sabbath breakers, people from other religions.

I dont think anyone could objectively argue that any of that is not immoral. Moderately religious muslims or christians are more moral than their fundamentalist counterparts (see ISIS and some evangelical Christians) precisely due to the fact that moderates reject the more repugnant parts of their religious texts and instead follow secular humanist principles in place of those.
Serious question, is your foolishness a deliberate thing or does it come naturally?
 

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Baby Duck

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This idea that we would all be cracking each others heads open and feasting on the goo inside without fear of a sky fairy's wrath is nonsense.

If your contention was true then there would be a strong correlation between religiosity and social cohesion. It is in fact almost the complete opposite. The more religious theocratic countries are the ones struggling on that front while the less religious secular countries do much better.

Your thought process is actually frightening. It's basically admitting that you don't think it is wrong to rape or murder someone unless a sky fairy tells you it's wrong. Does that mean you would be going around raping and murdering if you had no belief in god and no for fear of your god's wrath? I'll do you the courtesy of suggesting no you wouldn't.
Without some sort of religion we wouldnt really have any society today. There is a strong relationship between religiosity and social cohesion. It binds people together under a common belief system. Thats one of the major points of it.

I think you have got yourself confused. Im saying that if whole societies dismiss all religion and notion of God, like we have seen many do particularly in the 20th century, it leads to a river of bloodshed. Its happened several times over now. Under the atheist paradigm there can be no objective moral standard for anything. Philosophically it just does not exist. It all comes down to my opinion vs your opinion. Its your position that states rape and murder are technically ok so long as no one objects to it, and even then its still just opinion. Im not saying this is what I believe, im saying that is the logical end of pure atheism. You seem to understand very little of human nature and even just basic history of the previous 100 years where we saw the rise of pure atheism, and like Albert Pike said, unleashed on whole countries to devastating effect. Even today with it on the rise here we are seeing a race to the bottom of depraved and immoral behaviour.

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Serious question, is your foolishness a deliberate thing or does it come naturally?
You've never asked a serious question in all your time on this board so why start now?

Funny how as usual you throw out an ad hominem, refuse to debate the actual topic, run for the hills and bury your head back in the sand of comfortable ignorance that keeps you warm at night. Such a pathetic poster.
 

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What's that famous quote again from Dostoyevsky's Crime & Punishment?

"Without God, then anything is permissible".....God here is symbolic of that small voice of reason & conscience that we all possess....And when we turn our backs on it or ignore it often enough, then it most assuredly withers away....And when that becomes societally endemic, then we are most assuredly in trouble.
That small voice in your head is not God, it is centuries of evolution telling you that your survival depends upon your societal group and you better not piss them off.
 
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That small voice in your head is not God, it is centuries of evolution telling you that your survival depends upon your societal group and you better not piss them off.
I'm pretty sure that's the 'tribal instinct' you're referring to there.....The voice of conscience & reason is too often opposed to that particular mechanism for them to be the same....The 'divine spark of reason' is what Locke refers to as the light of God & what Aristotle reckons, is what separates us from the animals.....Animals also have the herd/pack instinct. So you'll need to find a better differential to what separates us apart from mere animal instincts alone. Else-wise the Social Darwinism ethos of might makes right & the rule of the jungle stands & there is no Universal objective law after all.
 
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Bennett.

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You've never asked a serious question in all your time on this board so why start now?

Funny how as usual you throw out an ad hominem, refuse to debate the actual topic, run for the hills and bury your head back in the sand of comfortable ignorance that keeps you warm at night. Such a pathetic poster.
So much irony in one post. I salute you.
 

Admiral Byng

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I'm pretty sue that's the 'tribal instinct' you're referring to there.....The voice of conscience & reason is too often opposed to that particular mechanism for them to be the same....The 'divine spark of reason' is what Locke refers to as the light of God & what Aristotle reckons, is what separates us from the animals.....Animals also have the herd/pack instinct. So you'll need to find a better differential to what separates us apart from mere animal instincts alone. Else-wise the Social Darwinism ethos of might makes right & the rule of the jungle stands & there is no Universal objective law after all.
Nah.
 

jason pm

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Ahhh, the old now don't take what is printed in the bible literally if it doesn't fit the bearded man in the sky narrative trick....then it's either-

A) Metaphorical.
B) Allegorical.
C) A parable.

You would think an all knowing, all seeing omnipresent deity would have been able to convey his message without ambiguity. Unless hes just a very naughty boy.
 

chelseacarlton

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Without some sort of religion we wouldnt really have any society today. There is a strong relationship between religiosity and social cohesion. It binds people together under a common belief system. Thats one of the major points of it.

I think you have got yourself confused. Im saying that if whole societies dismiss all religion and notion of God, like we have seen many do particularly in the 20th century, it leads to a river of bloodshed. Its happened several times over now. Under the atheist paradigm there can be no objective moral standard for anything. Philosophically it just does not exist. It all comes down to my opinion vs your opinion. Its your position that states rape and murder are technically ok so long as no one objects to it, and even then its still just opinion. Im not saying this is what I believe, im saying that is the logical end of pure atheism. You seem to understand very little of human nature and even just basic history of the previous 100 years where we saw the rise of pure atheism, and like Albert Pike said, unleashed on whole countries to devastating effect. Even today with it on the rise here we are seeing a race to the bottom of depraved and immoral behaviour.

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You really are a baby duck aren’t you?
You’d taste brilliant in one my cassoulets!
 

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chelseacarlton

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Ahhh, the old now don't take what is printed in the bible literally if it doesn't fit the bearded man in the sky narrative trick....then it's either-

A) Metaphorical.
B) Allegorical.
C) A parable.

You would think an all knowing, all seeing omnipresent deity would have been able to convey his message without ambiguity. Unless hes just a very naughty boy.
A simple worldwide text message would suffice,considering he is all powerful and created “everything”,yet needed to steal a rib bone to create the inferior woman!
 

Roylion

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I think you have got yourself confused. Im saying that if whole societies dismiss all religion and notion of God, like we have seen many do particularly in the 20th century, it leads to a river of bloodshed.
That is disputable.

Sociologist Phil Zuckerman analyzed previous social science research on secularity and non-belief, and concluded that societal well-being is positively correlated with irreligion. He found that were that compared to religious people in the US, "atheists and secular people" are less nationalistic, prejudiced, antisemitic, racist, dogmatic, ethnocentric, closed-minded, and authoritarian, and in US states with the highest percentages of atheists, the murder rate is lower than average. He also noted that Denmark and Sweden "probably the least religious countries in the world, and possibly in the history of the world", enjoy "among the lowest violent crime rates in the world [and] the lowest levels of corruption in the world".

“It is possible for a society to exist in which most people don’t really fear death all that much and simultaneously don’t give a great deal of thought to the meaning of life." He also concluded that "society without God is not only possible, but it can be quite civil and pleasant."
 
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Without some sort of religion we wouldnt really have any society today. There is a strong relationship between religiosity and social cohesion. It binds people together under a common belief system. Thats one of the major points of it.

I think you have got yourself confused. Im saying that if whole societies dismiss all religion and notion of God, like we have seen many do particularly in the 20th century, it leads to a river of bloodshed. Its happened several times over now. Under the atheist paradigm there can be no objective moral standard for anything. Philosophically it just does not exist. It all comes down to my opinion vs your opinion. Its your position that states rape and murder are technically ok so long as no one objects to it, and even then its still just opinion. Im not saying this is what I believe, im saying that is the logical end of pure atheism. You seem to understand very little of human nature and even just basic history of the previous 100 years where we saw the rise of pure atheism, and like Albert Pike said, unleashed on whole countries to devastating effect. Even today with it on the rise here we are seeing a race to the bottom of depraved and immoral behaviour.

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So which is the correct religion?
I'd hate to cause the downfall of humanity just because I've placed my faith in the wrong deity.


Why have you put so much faith in William Carr?
 

chelseacarlton

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So which is the correct religion?
I'd hate to cause the downfall of humanity just because I've placed my faith in the wrong deity.


Why have you put so much faith in William Carr?
Well,if you don’t care for ice giants,the Norse belief system is the one for you.
Odin took care of all them.
 

Bradesmaen

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You've never asked a serious question in all your time on this board so why start now?

Funny how as usual you throw out an ad hominem, refuse to debate the actual topic, run for the hills and bury your head back in the sand of comfortable ignorance that keeps you warm at night. Such a pathetic poster.
Religion 101. Produce no evidence, insult anyone who disagrees with you.
 

Showbags

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Without some sort of religion we wouldnt really have any society today. There is a strong relationship between religiosity and social cohesion. It binds people together under a common belief system. Thats one of the major points of it.
You may have had a point 2000 years ago when man was uncivilised and needed a sky fairy to keep them in check.

But your point is utterly stupid and irrelevant to modern society. The more theocratic/religious nations in the world are not more socially cohesive, that is just factually incorrect. Look at the 26 most religious countries in the world:
  1. Ethiopia
  2. Malawi
  3. Niger
  4. Sri Lanka
  5. Yemen
  6. Burundi
  7. Djibouti
  8. Mauritania
  9. Somalia
  10. Afghanistan
  11. Comoros
  12. Egypt
  13. Guinea
  14. Laos
  15. Myanmar
  16. Cambodia
  17. Cameroon
  18. Jordan
  19. Senegal
  20. Chad equal to six other countries - Ghana, Mali, Qatar, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Zambia
Now compare this with the least religious more secular countries in the world:
  1. China
  2. Japan
  3. Estonia
  4. Sweden
  5. Norway
  6. Czech Republic
  7. Hong Kong
  8. Netherlands
  9. Israel
  10. United Kingdom
  11. New Zealand
  12. Australia
  13. Azerbaijan
  14. Belarus
  15. Cuba
  16. Germany
  17. Vietnam
  18. Spain
  19. Switzerland
  20. Albania equal with three other countries - Austria, Hungary and Luxembourg
Here is the world map showing religiosity. Pretty obvious there is a correlation between the most religious countries and countries with the most social and political upheaval:

imrs.jpeg
 

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Im saying that if whole societies dismiss all religion and notion of God, like we have seen many do particularly in the 20th century, it leads to a river of bloodshed.
That's just emotive nonsense.

Society has been violent since day dot. In the name of religion, nationalism, the state, communism.

The least violent societies have been in the past 70 years, and have been secular liberal states. That is the model. People can worship their gods, but keep it private. It won't be tolerated in the public square.
 
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Ahhh, the old now don't take what is printed in the bible literally if it doesn't fit the bearded man in the sky narrative trick....then it's either-

A) Metaphorical.
B) Allegorical.
C) A parable.

You would think an all knowing, all seeing omnipresent deity would have been able to convey his message without ambiguity. Unless hes just a very naughty boy.
They are all ways to encapsulate the invisible....Mankind by nature is not simple. The 3 dimensional self-awareness of our own mortality ensures that.....Schizophrenia is the ultimate end of the self divided into 2. Of the disconnect between our reasoning spiritual selves & our embodied emotional self.
 

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Back to the standard one word posts. 21,321 posts, 22000 words used.
You would struggle to find a poster who has made less of a contribution to SRP than him. The standard formula for Bennett contributions is: (1) regurgitate right wing talking point; (2) get called out and fact checked on your bullshit; (3) give shitty one line answer that attacks the poster; (4) exit the thread to go hide in your safe space for a few days; (5) wash, rinse and repeat.
 

jason pm

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They are all ways to encapsulate the invisible....Mankind by nature is not simple. The 3 dimensional self-awareness of our own mortality ensures that.....Schizophrenia is the ultimate end of the self divided into 2. Of the disconnect between our reasoning spiritual selves & our embodied emotional self.
I think you've cracked the eternal question P35. The meaning/purpose of our existence is to figure out gods clandestine metaphorical riddle.
 
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