I'm putting these down now, and I'll address them sometime soon - most likely on Tuesday. I really want whoever reads this blog (all 3 of you) to weigh in on these:
Why do people need God? (Extra credit, what would an atheistic world look like?)
Upon what foundation is justice based? Is our understanding of justice influenced by religion? Can (should) all be held accountable to a baseline secular law? Should people be allowed to vote on the basis of their religious beliefs alone, even though their decisions may affect people who believe differently?
Is evangelism (with or without programs for social justice) a good thing?
Set go.
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3 comments:
Some random thoughts:
People need god to feel "something/someone" is in control and events in life aren't random, or as a "parent" to control baser impulses, as "hope" that there is more beyond this one life...
An atheistic world might not look much different from the world today. Laws to control or regulate behavior would still be passed as people invent their own "morality"
Justice and religion are linked. Historically, people lived by the rules of their religion, absent any real government. Religious tenets are now part of secular culture...the golden rule could be either religious or secular...with the same results.
If there are many religions represented in any country, then law should be secular, which will likely represent most morality that everyone can agree on, especially regarding criminal behavior. I tend to think that society ruled by secular law protects all religions.
People vote for all kinds of reasons, religion being one. The particularly devout might be "one issue" voters, voting only for a candidate that represents their ideals, and not voting at all if no such candidate exists. The danger of religious tenets becoming law in this country exists only if a majority of representatives with the same line of thinking are elected.
Evangelism, in the religious sense, is still just people trying to persuade other people that their way is the "right" "best" way...a public debate.
As a presidential candidate, you'd have to engage in such a debate to "persuade" people to elect you.
Is that a form of evangelism? Hmmmm....
god (get the pun) what a boring answer
this is the second time i've tried to write this comment and let me preface it by saying that i am cold tired and hungry and have a bit of a headache so everything i write is hearsay.
First of all what God are we talking about. Are we talking about a Judeo-Christian benevolent God. Are we talking about some sort of watchmaker deist thing? what is God? at least we're starting small.
I've been pondering this question for about two days now and its been very hard for me to understand. The question only makes sense if you presuppose that God is an invention constructed by believers. Because then the question becomes why do people need to create God which seems to be the undertones that the question has anyway. This isn't me rhapsodizing philosophically btw this is me trying to figure out what i believe. (i'm not that cocky goddamnit)
Okay so theres the believer answer to this question. People need God because it fulfills them spiritually. Humans being creations of God enter into a special relationship with him that when they are not participatory in it causes they're lives to feel vacant.
then theres the atheist answer that people create god to achieve a sense of control basically what anonymous said above me there.
God for my purposes in answering this question will be an extra natural being who is beyond the comprehension of our mental constructs. He can express himself in ways that we can understand. (a blowing breeze would be a small example). I would argue that this God is good.
People don't have a need for a God. Its just an expression of a feeling of something greater than themselves. A feeling of say God.
I'll tackle the other questions later.
brb
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