Guest 9thFloor Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 Assertion: There are some good acts (i.e. saving a life) that could conceivably be done for religious reasons or for secular reasons, but there are some bad acts (human sacrifice) that could only be conceivably done for religious reasons. There are a finite number of conceivable reasons for killing someone so removing religous reasons would result in one less reason for people being killed. Secularly motivated reasons for killing would remain unchanged. While there are no religious reasons for saving lives that couldn't just as well be motivated with secular appeals to consience, there are religious reasons for killing lives that could not otherwise be motivated by secular appeals to conscience. One example is Abraham who was prepared to kill his son Isaac because god told him to do so. Were it not for Abraham's religious belief, he would not have been prepared to kill his son and there is no conceivable secular reason that he would have had him up there on an altar with a knife about to plunge into him at that place at that time in those circumstances except for religion. All other secular reasons for wanting to kill his son on some other occassion for some other reason would remain unchanged. Religion provided that motivation without which he would have had no other reason to prepare to kill his son. Thoughts? Are there any other unethical acts that you can think of that are ONLY POSSIBLE with religious belief? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Japedo Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 Religion provided that motivation without which he would have had no other reason to prepare to kill his son. Thoughts? Are there any other unethical acts that you can think of that are ONLY POSSIBLE with religious belief? Interesting post and welcome to the forums 9th. To many to count is the answer. Murder, mayhem, theft of property's, lands and finances , wars, rapes, incest, abuse to children, oppression of women, abuse to animals have all been done both in the name of god and in the name of a religion. All also have 'scripture' to back it up to boot. Please note that's the short list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWIM Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 Most of the unethical acts get passed off as "ethical". Like pounding religion into children with jesus camps, bible study, church 3 times a week or more. By the time the kid is old enough to actually think, the brainwashing has been set it. IMO this amounts to child abuse. There are many examples like that of unethical behaviour that is encouraged and considered ethical. It's easy to see how wrong bombing an abortion clinic is, but it's the subtle things that are harder to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 Most of the unethical acts get passed off as "ethical". Like pounding religion into children with jesus camps, bible study, church 3 times a week or more. By the time the kid is old enough to actually think, the brainwashing has been set it. IMO this amounts to child abuse. There are many examples like that of unethical behaviour that is encouraged and considered ethical. It's easy to see how wrong bombing an abortion clinic is, but it's the subtle things that are harder to see. That's what I was going to say. Passing on cultural/religious myths as truth is unethical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taphophilia Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 This is the biggest problem that I have with Christianity, their strict adherence to dogma. If they have to choose between doing the right thing or following dogma, they choose dogma every time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thurisaz Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 Are there any other unethical acts that you can think of that are ONLY POSSIBLE with religious belief? Only? No. But fanatical belief (= blind faith, rejecting reason for dogma) surely makes it a lot easier to do the most abominable, unspeakable deeds. It absolves the so-inclined of all responsibility for their actions... ...or so they think at least. That said, welcome to the forums, greetings from Germany Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 9thFloor Posted November 23, 2007 Share Posted November 23, 2007 Are there any other unethical acts that you can think of that are ONLY POSSIBLE with religious belief? Only? No. But fanatical belief (= blind faith, rejecting reason for dogma) surely makes it a lot easier to do the most abominable, unspeakable deeds. It absolves the so-inclined of all responsibility for their actions... ...or so they think at least. That said, welcome to the forums, greetings from Germany Thanks for the welcomes ;-) I have that post up at http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=444186 and thought I'd pop it in here to see what kinds of thoughts I'd get from presumably more like-minded folks like yourselves. It's refreshing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mythra Posted November 23, 2007 Share Posted November 23, 2007 I consider it highly unethical for millionaire televangelists (or even the local pastors - who are such skilled manipulators) to bilk money from the gullible, uneducated poor who can hardly afford to part with it. But, they give it willingly. Duped into the assumption that they are giving it to GOD. So, I can't say that it's undeserved. But it's still unethical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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