Castanet

I've been thinking about this question all day. Do we / did we need religion to build a moral society?

Frisk wrote:I've been thinking about this question all day. Do we / did we need religion to build a moral society?

No. But those who thought they would like to control the growing populations that resulted from the advent of agriculture thought it was a good idea. We are born with an innate sense of right and wrong and morality is not about right and wrong, it is about judgement and punishment for not obeying orders handed down from above. Those clever little controlling rascals added the divine part to give it added punch and to justify their abuses.

exactly it was at first just people having faith in something and ended up as a tool for control .

maryjane48 wrote:exactly it was at first just people having faith in something and ended up as a tool for control .

Religion is a product of civilization. Tribal societies, hunter gatherers, didn't have religion. Mainly, they had great respect for all life.

Frisk wrote:I've been thinking about this question all day. Do we / did we need religion to build a moral society?

No the world would be a better place if there was so no such thing as religion, and Instead have a global moral/ethics code.

Frisk wrote:I've been thinking about this question all day. Do we / did we need religion to build a moral society?

No, morality is a product of the memetic evolution of tribal living. It was a part of us long before we invented religion.

Frisk wrote:I've been thinking about this question all day. Do we / did we need religion to build a moral society?

Great question.
First the 'do we' need part... I think that today religion as a whole prevents full morality of society.

Did we once need religion to build moral society? Maybe. There are some good things in the religions I know eg. Christian kindness to others or Buddhist mindfulness. Even in my understanding of Islam, there are rules built in to mitigate the evils that existed in that time. So likely overall I'd say religion hasn't been a bad thing & it has improved the lot of humanity.

The interesting part of your question to me is how to build a moral society today. I read a book suggesting 'legislated morality'. Can a moral society be legislated? The book said the key to such an endeavour is a minimal number of rules. The more rules there are, the further we would be straying from what is true and good.

Morals are born of empathy, trustworthiness, compassion...all human characteristics.
Religion not necessary

Smart man. His book "letters From Earth" was an amazing read. It started me questioning everything. Allan Watts pointed to a trail that I ended up starting down. That trail has had many twists and turn, some detours and derailments, but it is the only path that I could have followed. Everybody needs to find their own path; the one less traveled. In the end, it doesn't matter how you got home, it only matters that you did. Following someone else's path will get you nowhere.

Moral acceptance with religions

Love is my religion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVztZI-OMUg

Farmmaa wrote:Morals are born of empathy, trustworthiness, compassion...all human characteristics.
Religion not necessary

13232893_1360000507349359_9082606676258135277_n.jpg

Yes, America is such a peaceful country...

http://www.informationclearinghouse.inf ... e41086.htm

since the United States was founded in 1776, she has been at war during 214 out of her 235 calendar years of existence. In other words, there were only 21 calendar years in which the U.S. did not wage any wars.

To put this in perspective:

* Pick any year since 1776 and there is about a 91% chance that America was involved in some war during that calendar year.

* No U.S. president truly qualifies as a peacetime president. Instead, all U.S. presidents can technically be considered “war presidents.”

* The U.S. has never gone a decade without war.

* The only time the U.S. went five years without war (1935-40) was during the isolationist period of the Great Depression.

... but hey, if the official looking map says they're peaceful, it must be.

the map adresses domestic violence .

zzontar wrote:Yes, America is such a peaceful country...

... but hey, if the official looking map says they're peaceful, it must be.

I might be wrong but I don't believe the U.S.A. was painted in red.