Love me or else (Part Two) (Where is it now?)

by Balance_Maintained , U.S.A., Saturday, December 22, 2012, 20:43 (4355 days ago) @ David Turell


> > BM: If we are oh so much more mature, then why do we have laws, rules, and courts? 
> 
> David:I'm not saying we are less evil individually, but philosophically, since the Greeks, we are more mature in theology and philosophy. We can see easily the child-like workings of religion at that day and time. Of course, there are religions that are still doing it.-
What does religion have to do with it? If offering reward and punishment is as dealing with a child, then humanity is infantile in the extreme. My point was not that we are any more or less evil, but that we have not matured. We are just like children who point at other children and poke fun of them. "Look at stupid head over there!" "Look how stupid my parents are!" Or in your case, "Look at how stupid those ancient civilizations were. They are like children!"-The only thing that has matured in our mentality since the Greeks is our ability to rationalize our actions so that they seem more moral in our own eyes and we don't feel as guilty about them. We can slaughter a thousand people and it is ok so long as we dehumanize the other guys first. Slap a label on an ideology then apply the ideology to a culture, and suddenly it becomes ok to do whatever we want. And it is not simply religion that is to blame, though I gladly admit that religious institutions have done more than their fair share of harm.

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What is the purpose of living? How about, 'to reduce needless suffering. It seems to me to be a worthy purpose.