Since pre-monotheistic times, when classic philosophy found morality, ethics and goodness could only be truly meaningful when they were decided upon by mortals for the wellbeing of mortals, and not deliberated under the whim and capriciousness of Gods , there has been , and fortunately is in America to this day at least, a counter balance against that imaginary attempted divine interference.
On the basis of that knowledge and understanding the ancient Greeks brought , is established therefore in spite of the Gods and not because of them, secular democratic law
They had the empathy to which Gabfly refers, to comprehend that allowing human kindness to be arrogated through the medium of any imaginary God , is to usurp the common understanding of goodness , and open it up to abuse.
One of the last people to be declaring what goodness should be or mean for humanity, would be a Christian , or any deity-groupie for that matter , who through their myriad of denominations, each argue and often kill each other for their own superstitious interpretations of what is right and wrong, and therefore denigrate the very nature of virtue as they proclaim it.
Performing rituals through the medium of mythical guru teachers like Jesus or Mohammed for example, who one minute are telling you to love thy neighbor and the next to hate your family, should make it immediately clear these so called messiahs, would certainly not make it into the leagues of good-hearted mortal human beings who already know it is morally reprehensible to hate your family.
People who are good, are good anyway despite teachings from their religion. If they are good because of it , then they cannot be said to be truly good. Good purely is for the sake of goodness only. To expect no reward.
How is it good-hearted because of selfish wishful thinking, that you will do good in order to please some supernatural being who will bestow an eternal afterlife for your trust and subjugation , but which can decide itself that goodness is not what you know it to be anyway?.
Any religious group who will hand over decisions on the wellbeing of humanity to the medium of an imaginary deity to usurp virtue, is simply leaving morality open to abuse. There is nothing virtuous in that.
It should be no surprise that standards in a society would decline over time when the natural common basic ethic is constantly being handed off to a God, away from the secular social conscience where the doing of what is right and the avoiding of what is wrong, is altruistically and humanistically determined, as those Greeks showed, who after all did shape entire Western thought.
Their message is simple and straightforward.
There's no necessity for an extra reason, to be doing what you should be doing for your fellow human beings anyway.
On the basis of that knowledge and understanding the ancient Greeks brought , is established therefore in spite of the Gods and not because of them, secular democratic law
They had the empathy to which Gabfly refers, to comprehend that allowing human kindness to be arrogated through the medium of any imaginary God , is to usurp the common understanding of goodness , and open it up to abuse.
One of the last people to be declaring what goodness should be or mean for humanity, would be a Christian , or any deity-groupie for that matter , who through their myriad of denominations, each argue and often kill each other for their own superstitious interpretations of what is right and wrong, and therefore denigrate the very nature of virtue as they proclaim it.
Performing rituals through the medium of mythical guru teachers like Jesus or Mohammed for example, who one minute are telling you to love thy neighbor and the next to hate your family, should make it immediately clear these so called messiahs, would certainly not make it into the leagues of good-hearted mortal human beings who already know it is morally reprehensible to hate your family.
People who are good, are good anyway despite teachings from their religion. If they are good because of it , then they cannot be said to be truly good. Good purely is for the sake of goodness only. To expect no reward.
How is it good-hearted because of selfish wishful thinking, that you will do good in order to please some supernatural being who will bestow an eternal afterlife for your trust and subjugation , but which can decide itself that goodness is not what you know it to be anyway?.
Any religious group who will hand over decisions on the wellbeing of humanity to the medium of an imaginary deity to usurp virtue, is simply leaving morality open to abuse. There is nothing virtuous in that.
It should be no surprise that standards in a society would decline over time when the natural common basic ethic is constantly being handed off to a God, away from the secular social conscience where the doing of what is right and the avoiding of what is wrong, is altruistically and humanistically determined, as those Greeks showed, who after all did shape entire Western thought.
Their message is simple and straightforward.
There's no necessity for an extra reason, to be doing what you should be doing for your fellow human beings anyway.
