In Reply to: Re: Statistically: Faith is good for us... posted by Observer on August 08, 2006 at 17:43:20:
You said you take my point, but based on your examples it seems to me you have missed it entirely.
You write: "Don't forget the millions of Russians killed by otherwise moral Russian communist citizens." Can't you see the obvious contradiction in your statement? If those "moral Russian communist citizens" actually killed millions of other Russian citizens as you claim, then by no definition could they be considered moral. They were "evil" people doing "evil" things. How could you possibly consider them to be moral, i.e., "good"? I'd like to know what standard you use to determine that someone is moral.
You write that it's just human nature and nothing to do with religion, but your supporting example is simply contradictory. You say you've seen "good" people with no faith do "evil" things. Again, I have to ask what standard you use to determine that someone is "good" even though they have done something "evil"? If they have done something "evil" how could you call them "good"?
You also say you've seen "evil", non-believing hypocrites do "good" things. You seem to be equating "evil" persons to non-believers or hypocrites, which is, in my opinion, based on a religious bias. In the world without religion, that so-called "evil" person who does "good" things would not be considered "evil". Of course, in the black-and-white scenario I've painted there would be the problem cases where the dividing line between "good" and "bad" was not so clear, so in that sense I am over-simplifying, but I don't think it is simply a matter of human nature as you state.
In a world without religion, we would judge people by their actions not their religious beliefs. Thus, in a world without religion, we would place people on a scale with the "good", those who do "good" things, at one end, and the "evil", those who do "evil" things, on the other end.
However, when religion enters the picture, we find a new category of people, those who claim to be "good" (the chosen, enlightened, etc., etc.) because of their particular religious faith, yet do "bad" or "evil" things justified by or in the name of their religion. In the world without religion, those self-professed, so called "good" people would not be considered "good", but "bad" because of their actions.