JrzyTmata wrote: 
I make the same mistake all the time. I think we can have a discussion, and instead I get personally attacked, so I deleted it.

where'd the thread go?

.......

 ankhara99 wrote: 



 I love the way you drop in and just slap those who so richly deserve it - almost diety-like.

 mzpro5 wrote: 
Why do you say that?

And why do you feel the need to attack me personally because of my beliefs?

 mzpro5 wrote: 
I am not insulting them. They can believe whatever they want. I just believe that there is not a connection between whether people believe in god or not, and whether they are moral or not. I was commenting on the piece by Ricky Gervais, did you read it?

 hippiechick wrote: 
It is absolutely amazing how ignorant you can sound at times.

 hippiechick wrote: 
Why do you insist on insulting people that don't agree with you?  You make people that believe in a religion and have faith as being a bit less than those that do not have these beliefs.

I consider myself an agnostic and have a number of friends that have religious beliefs.  Though we don't agree on that subject we are friends and I would never think to insult them by saying something like you said above.  We are able though to have intelligent conversations on the subject without being so judgmental.

As usual you are guilty of the same thing you accuse others of - judging people by one aspect of their character.

 black321 wrote: 
I don't see that there is any connection between morality and god.

Think The Crusades.

And there are many "Christians" who believe they do not need to live a moral life, because just accepting Jesus as their personal savior is all that is required. And, it seems to me, that the more religious and dogmatic a person is, the less they feel the need to be moral, because they think tha they are so right about their beliefs.

 hippiechick wrote: 

Perhaps what they are trying to say is that an atheist doesnt have to be moral/good (it's their choice), whereas for someone who believes in a supreme being, morality is a requirement...or you are a hypocrit.   

 hippiechick wrote: 

It is interesting, but my opinion is that Religion has no bearing whatsoever on how good or bad a person is or behaves. I do not think organized religion has any actual effect on the morals of an individual. Now, on the surface, highly religious people are motivated through fear as you say to keep themselves in line, but whether they actually do good or not is dependent upon who they truly are as individuals which in reality has nothing to do with religion, they just don't know it. By the same token, the child molesting Priest is not molesting children because he is part of the evil organized religion establishment, he is doing it because he is a douchebag and wants to fulfill his desires. In other words, good people is good, bad people is bad, it is that simple.

 ankhara99 wrote: 
This is what I have heard religious people say about morality. I have heard them say "How can you be a moral person if you don't have to answer to god?"

I am sure there is a wide variety of why people live moral lives, but it doesn't have to be related to answering to a god.

 hippiechick wrote: 
What a condescending and incredibly limited generalization.  Wow.  Some religious people live moral lives because they are inspired by their religious figurehead (Jesus, Allah, Buddha, whomever) to live that way.   I've met them, they do actually exist.  And man, they are amazing people.

 kurtster wrote: 

This is my opinion, I do not have beliefs only hypothesis and opinions. Anyway, yes, I think good and evil have absolutely nothing to do with religious affiliation whatsoever. Most bad is done for natural Machiavellian reasons, to acquire food, money, whatever or for self gratification, torture, rape and so forth. Evil is pure ID for the most part. It is pretty basic stuff, actually I believe all of lifes biggest questions have the most basic simplest answers. Really, it is like that cheesy song; you and me baby ain't nothin but mammals, let's do it like they do it on the Discovery channel or something like that. I think that song is the meaning of life, along with Monty Python of course.

 hippiechick wrote: 
Have a read of Terry Pratchett's "Small Gods". In his humorous way, he shows religion for the silliness (and nastiness) that it is.

 hippiechick wrote: 

 justlistening wrote: 
Religious people live moral lives because they think that god will punish them if they don't. Atheists live moral lives just because it's the right thing to do.

And besides, there is no proof that people who believe in a god have a stronger moral belief; in fact, I believe that RG states just the opposite.

 OlderThanDirt wrote: 

 justlistening wrote: 
Yeah I bet you will. 

 justlistening wrote: 

Aha! I knew it!