Why morality doesn't need God
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Seriously. As an /atheist/, I don't have much qualms with the idea of faith. The institutionalization of superstitions , prejudices and epistemologically unsound foundations of moral judgment, sure - lots of problems there. But you can't really say with a straight face that religion's been nothing but a bummer for mankind without ignoring the vast realm of accomplishments made in its name.
But all achievements - and all tragedies - were made by human hands. Which is where at least my own stance is made: it isn't religion's fault that man is occasionally evil, as religion is nothing but a concept - and abstracts in a vacuum are value-neutral. It is, in the end, man's fault that man is, at times, evil.
Could you please elaborate on how did religion cause peace... LIFE????? er... HEALING???? acceptance, tolerance and opennes, women's rights and advancements of the sciences??
Ok I agree there is a lot of religious art, but that was possible because Catholic Church was (and is) veeeeeeeeeery wealthy. That doesn't mean that art wouldn't have advanced if religion did not exist at all.
"But all achievements - and all tragedies - were made by human hands." I completely agree with you on that. There are good things and there are bad things made by people, and there would be good things and bad things as well if there were not religion at all. There's a famous sentence "There's good people doing good things and bad people doing bad things, but it takes religion for good people doing bad things".
Life: The practice of medicine was often spearheaded by the churches. Most religions mandate successful propagation and child-rearing. The Judeochristian religions in particular stresses that to save one life is equivalent to saving all lives.
Acceptance, tolerance and openness: A progressive thing; the idea of trans-societal equality can be said to originate from the idea that all are equal before the eyes of the faith's deity. Buddhism especially, even without a deity, puts emphasis not on material wealth or power but the attainment of personal enlightenment, regardless of background.
Women's rights: Surprisingly true. Islam in earlier centuries actually spearheaded the idea of women having innate rights, even if said rights were often inferior to those of men. Buddhism, again, puts no special emphasis on gender. The Tao considers male and female to be equals of different properties.
Advancement of sciences: The Church outright /funded/ many pioneering scientists and experiments, if they weren't involved outright in its process. Mendel's studies of genetic inheritance was done as a monk. The Vatican was responsible for postulating the Big Bang theory of universal origin. Many scientists see their profession as a way to better understand the mind and intent of their deity.
Art: If you think I'm just talking about the stuff commissioned by the Vatican, you are /sorely/ mistaken. And Eurocentric too, so double-shame on you. The history of art is nearly inseparable from the history of religion - and the first forms of art were often means of religious expression.
Pithy sayings are just pithy sayings. It takes a bad man in good clothing to profess piety and pacifism on one hand and victimize with the other. What your quote describes is "hypocrisy," which is a universal problem in human culture, and not particularly bound by religion. Atheists have no monopoly on ethics and morality - we simply have a more concrete theory of origin on the subject, and better predictive elements on its formulation.
"The adoption of Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire drove an expansion of the provision of care. The First Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. urged the church to provide for the poor, sick, widows, and strangers. It ordered the construction of a hospital in every cathedral town. Among the earliest were those built by the physician Saint Sampson in Constantinople and by Basil, bishop of Caesarea. The latter was attached to a monastery and provided lodgings for poor and travelers, as well as treating the sick and infirm. There was a separate section for lepers.[15]"
In reality, there's no good or bad. There are just imbalances in dynamics between people, seeking harmony. Which action yields that balancing outcome all depends on the circumstances, the situation, and the context. Most of that is what we can't see, until maybe in hindsight.
All of us atheists that pride ourselves on our rational thought, probably 99% of us would have been just as religious or superstitious if we were alive 500, 1000 ago.
On the other hand religion's claims on morality are just ridiculous, can't believe anyone gives it credence.
Open your eyes.
Take homosexuality for example... as recent as a few decades back, it was an abhorrent crime, hated by society, hated by government. A few years later, it's celebrated, with countless open air marches and festivals around the world. God's position on this hasn't changed - peoples has!
Take dress code as another item.... the definition of 'modesty' holds a whole different connotation almost year on year. What's acceptable in terms of women dress wear, magazines, films, is slipping bit by bit, year on year. Again, another human whim.
The harmful nature of swine has been studied and documented to the nth degree. The bacteria it contains, and the susceptibility of the meat to transmit viruses is well known within certain research communities (do google search).
"Religion alone has caused more suffering in history than any other idea, and has lead to wars, deaths, torture, discrimination, intolerance, sexual repression, sexist discrimination to women, and a slowdown for science, culture and knowledge."
On the contrary. Human beings have killed people. Religion hasn't. All the 3 major religions are against innocent loss of life. The death toll in Iraq has gone off the scale. The death toll in Afghanistan has reached into it's hundreds of thousands. These are Atheist wars! In modern history, Atheism has killed more people than centuries of religiously motivated killings.
Religion has brought, not only moral truth, but also has cultivated the soil for humanity to be scientifically and technologically where it is at now. The Islamic Golden Age (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Golden_Age) has contributed an invaluable amount to almost every aspect of our existence today (from universities, to contracts, to music...). What has atheist brought really? than just ignorant and prejudice ideas?
"Take homosexuality for example... as recent as a few decades back, it was an abhorrent crime, hated by society, hated by government." <- and in ancient greece it was normal and accepted
"Take dress code as another item" <- Fashion in dressing has changed over the course of the centuries
"The harmful nature of swine has been studied and documented to the nth degree. The bacteria it contains, and the susceptibility of the meat to transmit viruses is well known within certain research communities" <- The same could be said of other animals such as bovine and birds.
"On the contrary. Human beings have killed people." <- But in the name of religion! And not only in the name of the 3 major monotheistic religions, but the monothoeistic religions happen to be less tolerant with other's beliefs. There are many examples, the crusades, inquisition, witch hunts...
"The death toll in Iraq has gone off the scale. The death toll in Afghanistan has reached into it's hundreds of thousands. These are Atheist wars!" <- Doesn't ex-president Bush Jr told the world that the bad ones where islamic fanatic terrorists? He even wanted to call the war "Divine Justice" or something alike.
"Religion has brought, not only moral truth" <- again, that is very debatable. Religion claims it has The Truth, yet every religion claims the same, and their truths are different from each other.
"In modern history, Atheism has killed more people than centuries of religiously motivated killings." <- That is absolutely demagogic. Atheism hasn't killed anyone. People kills people, and in modern wars is it is always for economic reasons.
"The Islamic Golden Age has contributed an invaluable amount to almost every aspect of our existence today" <- That is exactly correct. And during the Islamic Golden Age, muslims where not as fanatical as they are nowadays. On the contrary, on that age, christians were as fanaticals as muslims ara nowadays.
"What has atheist brought really?" <- Freethinking, a neutral vision of nature and the universe, curiosity and the ability to ask questions and look for answers beyond "it is god's <change your deity name here> will". If it were for religion, we will still think that earth is plain.
"than just ignorant and prejudice ideas?" <- That is exactly what I would say that religion has given to humanity.
I understand your point, but I seriously doubt this is correct. This sort of argument is not likely to impress anyone, least of all a religionists.
Even if that were the case - and I don't believe that it is for a second - what about indirect causes? What about gaining enough power to wage war by simply pandering to theists and labelling the wars as God's work? I can think of at least one example you may have heard of, but Mr Godwin wouldn't like me mentioning it.