To be Atheist is the light of seeking Morality while still alive.

Fellow internet users; how does that compute for being and becoming Moral? God just hinders individuals from thinking morally in a competent way.:bobby:

 

Wow. A thread and post from you that makes sense. Great stuff man!

 

I hope it's not just atheists who are seeking morality while still alive. Presumably, religious folks seek it too, better while alive than dead. Some seek it because they love God, and think of God as good. Some come to morality first, then come to god as the summation of moral ideals. What is a "competent" way of thinking morally? Secular philosophers have thinking about it for centuries, but their theories are over the heads of most folks, and lack a "hook". They may be pure, but are they competent enough to get the job done?

I know lots of atheists who lead moral lives and do a decent job of child rearing--the acid tests of moral competence. I also know Christians who are incompetent in these areas. I think a good God presupposes morality, so that when I say "God is good" I mean something more than "Good is whatever God says it is." But I find God and His goodness to be a powerful source of moral inspiration. God is love, and for me, love of God and neighbor are a positive motivators for trying to be as good as I can be--hopefully at least competent and ideally more than that. When I encounter other humans, I think I'm encountering God's real presence, and that influences how I interact with them.

 

That's not the question. You're missing the point

The question is: what is morality?

 

God doesn't hinder individuals from thinking morally in a competent way. God gave us a blueprint 2 follow. His living word the bible.

 

^
I was thinking the same thing.

edit: first line only.

How does God hinders people in that regard? I don't see it. Unfortunately I am pretty sure I won't understand your answer but I ask anyway.

 

Not god. Religion.

 

Not religion. People.

 

Some atheists I would imagine do not see belief in god in others as detrimental.

To answer that question ends the seeking of it. Morality can't get away from self interest. The most moral thing you can do is be happy, exceedingly so. A mind without anxiety is kind.

 

Same thing. People make religion.

 

Indeed, so that's why people themselves (or others for them) make the hindering (sp? ) as well. Religion does not do that for them. It gets (ab)used for it, like a tool or an excuse.

 

I'm not going to say you're wrong but in the end it's just semantics. People created religion for various reasons. One of them is control.

 

So you agree as well that it is people? JK we can have different opinions and still not one of us has to be wrong. Yes in the end it seems like semantics but what I ment is it is never the religion that is forcing people to do certain things. It is their own urge or conviction to follow a dogma or they've been indoctrinated by other people that they should follow or denounce a certain morality. So in that way it is always people themselves that hinder morality (wether it is their own morality or those of others). One thing seems certain though (so far), it is not God that hinders a person in thinking or acting morally.

 

But you need the "tool" for the indoctrination. There can be no followers without the dogma.

Round and round we go. :sunny:

 

Without the dogma there are still the people who constructed it. Without the people there wouldn't be a dogma in the first place

 

Chicken. Egg.

 

omellete

 

The egg was first! Duh.

 

conception first

 

Did I introduce this ideal for many, many artists, musicians, poets? sock it to me baby; shouldn't the enlightenment be for a materialistic conception first, A RECORD of grace seeking peace; an abstract person should exist for the Materialism; and lone behold there are real people who fit the explaining bill. Maybe after all as in the Hegel days of the early seventies and late sixties God may be a Concept that preceded the existence of a populating universe; also Man drops out of the definition of Creation.