Thomas Jefferson on Religion and Legbreaking

[andyfox]

Jefferson said: "It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."

A minister from New York responded: "Let my neighbor perceive himself that there is no God, and he will soon pick my pocket and break not only my leg but my neck."

[Nielsio]

I don't get it.

[Sephus]

if you don't believe in god, why not go on a killing spree? there's no reason not to that i can think of.

[tame_deuces]

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if you don't believe in god, why not go on a killing spree? there's no reason not to that i can think of.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not to be insulting, but I don't think you can have thought of it very hard.

[Sephus]

[ QUOTE ]
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if you don't believe in god, why not go on a killing spree? there's no reason not to that i can think of.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not to be insulting, but I don't think you can have thought of it very hard.

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so you think the holocaust was ok??

[tame_deuces]

[ QUOTE ]

so you think the holocaust was ok??

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You said there was no reason not to go on a killing spree if you don't believe in god. I don't believe in god and I can give dozens of reasons not go on a killing spree. So I fail to see the significance of your question.

I am actually fairly certain that even people who think the holocaust _was_ ok can think of many reasons not go on various forms of killing sprees.

[andyfox]

The two comments mirror discussions we've had here. That without God, wherefrom comes morality?

[Nielsio]

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The two comments mirror discussions we've had here. That without God, wherefrom comes morality?

[/ QUOTE ]


That, I got. But do you have a question, or an insight?

[tame_deuces]

[ QUOTE ]
The two comments mirror discussions we've had here. That without God, wherefrom comes morality?

[/ QUOTE ]

Depends abit on how you define morality. If you define it as a standardized set of ethics/norms that are accepted truths within cultures and for certain individuals, then you don't need the idea of a god to explain them. It is easy to see how they can come about with the partly the evolution of humans and partly the development of culture.

Or to put it context, even within a lair of rats there are social norms for behavior even if their cognitive abilities are far below that of a human being, which can lead us to believe that simply evolution itself mammal species evolving a genepool that is 'biased' towards certain forms of behavior is much more fitted to survival than a mammal species that is not. As species evolve we can also imagine that individuals possessing certain traits have a higher probability of having offspring.

Humans superb cognitive abilities allows us to develop social orders far more advanced than that of other mammals, and since these social can be learned and passed on to the next generation, these social orders don't need genes to survice, only a fitting 'host' in the form of us and our cognitive abilities. With this in mind then cultural bias for certain trends of behavior is also easily explainable.

So there you have a much simplified explanation for morals without a god.

[Sephus]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

so you think the holocaust was ok??

[/ QUOTE ]

You said there was no reason not to go on a killing spree if you don't believe in god. I don't believe in god and I can give dozens of reasons not go on a killing spree. So I fail to see the significance of your question.

I am actually fairly certain that even people who think the holocaust _was_ ok can think of many reasons not go on various forms of killing sprees.

[/ QUOTE ]

the audacity of your materialstic alkalinity brings this dessicated new way of thinking to the forefront. to see the folly in this you must only look to the end of our selves, and see that it is really a beginning of a new end. when you first realize that your confusion is the result of denying that which is underscored by the stars, the preponderance of despondence will demonstrate the god living and the god dying, and the clear way of thinking will beckon understanding from the burgeoning ethereal new openness of the eye of your self.