"sdr"
> What Atheists Can't Answer
> By Michael Gerson Friday, July 13, 2007;
> Page A17 Washington Post
> " Human nature, in other circumstances, is also
> clearly constructed for cruel exploitation,
> uncontrollable rage, icy selfishness and a range of
> other less desirable traits.
>
> So the dilemma is this: How do we choose between
> good and bad instincts? Theism, for several
> millennia, has given one answer: We should
> cultivate the better angels of our nature because
> the God we love and respect requires it. While many
> of us fall tragically short, the ideal remains....
Great point.
> If it were the case that religion is our instructor,
> then there would be no prisons. There are, and
> consider, further, that the most religious (at least
> professing to be) group in this country is the two
> million criminals in our prisons. 'Nouf said.
Religious people in our prisons may reflect a psychological
need for repentance.
> But if you still think that morality/ethics is in any
> way/shape/form associated with religious belief, then
> but think about the depravity of priests and preachers
> --who have been caught. Shouldn't that, at least, be
> enough to remove any convictions you might have had
> about religious instruction "bettering" our "naturally
> evil nature."
Rather, that proves that sin is universal. Sin affects both
those with a religous ideal, and those without it, who deny
the need for any religion at all. Sin is captivity to our
human nature and its tendency to do the wrong thing.
> Further: People who think they should be good BECAUSE
> their God requires it are only setting themselves up
> for the most evil preacher's definition of The Good.
> Time and time again we have seen preachers "inform"
> their congregations that God wants them to fight this
> or that war (Confederate preachers urged their
> congregations to kill as many Yankees as possible), or
> to butcher and plunder this or that people (in the
> best of Islamic traditions, Turkish preachers told
> their congregations that murdering Armenians for their
> possessions (and raping their women and children
> before slaughtering them) was what God expected of
> them... and because acknowledging this monstrous truth
> about Islam before the whole world is so impossible,
> the Turks to this day refuse to acknowledge that the
> Armenian/Muslim genocide even ever took place).
Since sin universally affects all, it applies in every
situation as well, even among the religious. Naturally, if
sin can cause greedy advertisers to manipulate people to eat
more than they should, then preachers can also be tempted to
manipulate for purposes of pride and power.
> But I don't have to prove to any parent that we are
> ALL born with unfettered instincts--to be "bettered"
> by the (sometimes even the most casual & offhand)
> instructions of our parents and societies: Every child
> KNOWS the difference between good and evil (deeds) by
> the time he/she is four or five. And if they don't,
> then that is a certain sign that such children live in
> a warped and perverted society or family.
Apparently some Muslim parents missed your naturally endowed
sense of right and wrong. They teach their children to
become good little terrorist martyrs.
> The four-year-old who does "evil" may not yet know how
> to "get away with it," but he certainly knows he had
> better not get caught doing it.
> Therefore, if there be man or woman on this earth who
> still does not know the difference between Good and
> Evil... let them inquire of any (as-yet religiously-
> uninstructed) four-year-old: for he will surely know,
> and tell them.
Tell that to those people who grow up to be terrorists.
Maybe they'll listen to you.
randy
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