Reversing The Moral Decay Behind The London Riots
online.wsj.com
online.wsj.com
The problem here isn't religion or morality per se. To make that argument you'd have to be making the point that the people rioting didn't know what they were doing was wrong. I don't see that as valid.
The issue, as the author says at the beginning, is self-restraint. Britain has seen a decline in religion and without the "fear of God" there's a certain segment of the population (the lowest class who have nothing to lose) who no longer see the need to restrain themselves. So the issue is teaching them why they should restrain themselves even without fearing God
Given that I see a very simple solution here. In societies where religion is losing favor schools and parents have to teach kids secular morality. Explain to them that a riot destroys businesses which deprives the government of revenue which in turn will come back to harm the people who caused the riot in the long run.
Basically switch the "Golden Rule" for the "Categorical Imperative" (which to be honest are virtually the same thing anyhow)
"He quotes a member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, tasked with finding out what gave the West its dominance. He said: At first we thought it was your guns. Then we thought it was your political system, democracy. Then we said it was your economic system, capitalism. But for the last 20 years, we have known that it was your religion.
It was the Judeo-Christian heritage that gave the West its restless pursuit of a tomorrow that would be better than today. The Chinese have learned the lesson. Fifty years after Chairman Mao declared China a religion-free zone, there are now more Chinese Christians than there are members of the Communist Party.
China has learned the lesson. The question is: Will we?"
But I don't think someone who has a purpose they truly believe in is worse for not having religion in a motivational sense. So what I think religion has done for the United States is to give the masses (people who are fine with a 9-to-5 day) more motivation to work diligently even when they aren't chasing their dream.
But the thing about countries like China and India is this: What Americans consider mundane work is the dream of many people in these countries. I've met people from India who dreamed of a job in a call center since they were a little kid. Meaning those people are just as motivated if not more so than their American counterparts who worked hard because they thought God commanded them to.
Struggling politically for more government action (and by extension, taxation) toward the same goals isn't altruistic?
I sincerely doubt anyone involved in the News Corp scandal reads HN so it isn't like you'd be getting a dig in and it doesn't seem like your comments were meant to be funny.
The reason I bring this up is your comment seems to be hate based. As if your hatred for News Corp is so significant that you can't help but express it even when there's no real purpose to doing so and that seems unhealthy to me.
Even if you aren't religious one of the tenants of judeo-christian religion is forgiveness. Not for the sake of the person being forgiven but for the sake of person with the hatred in their heart. Because hatred, even when justified, tends to eat away at you until you end up a bitter person.
Anyway, something to think about...