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Do you dismiss that much of the moral and ethics we have today in our society evolved in parallel with religious teachings? I feel strongly that it is foolish

Do you dismiss that much of the moral and ethics we have today in our society evolved in parallel with religious teachings? I feel strongly that it is foolish to remove the freedom to practice religion if it promotes moral and ethical behavior. Freedom to believe and have faith in something that helps society shouldn't be dissolved. That said, I'm all for having additional secular classes in ethics and morality for those that don't want to practice a religion. Freedom goes both ways as long as it doesn't promote values that hurt others. We need to work together to solve corruption and other problems. Religion is not the enemy of morality, and neither is secular education of morality.

prawn 11y ago
No, I think it goes without saying that ethics classes would find common ground with major religions. But I think we have everything we need to have learnt from a history with religion and can do without the ridiculous bits in 2015+. Not saying that people can't practice freely, but that it has no place in state education and government. No need for it in ethics classes either. FWIW, I come from a country where religion doesn't play a big part in life and can think of two friends out of 50-100 that would be considered at all religious. Religion might seem more relevant to people in other countries obviously.
ionised 11y ago
> Do you dismiss that much of the moral and ethics we have today in our society evolved in parallel with religious teachings? Yes. Much of our morality and ethics are innate and stem from our nature and evolution as a social species. Religion just took credit for it. Even social groups of monkeys and rodents tend to avoid killing eachother and do what is in the best interests of the group.
- purpled_haze 11y ago
  > Much of our morality and ethics are innate and stem from our nature and evolution as a social species. Where is your evidence for this? It would seem more evident to me that the source I am aware of through my education in history and life experience for teaching of morals and ethics has been religion. Although many here may not be old enough to realize it, countries that are mostly secular not long ago historically speaking had much moral and ethical teaching from their religions. Attributing this to monkeys and innate behavior may account for part, but from what I understand, you could just as easily bring up monkeys in a ruthless environment where it is every monkey for him/herself. Having an established organization or organizations that teach morals and ethics is important.
  - prawn 11y ago
    Like your ruthless monkeys, someone could point to countless proclaimed adherents in jail or advocating bloodthirsty war or abusing children or embezzling community funds. Are there any important religious teachings that wouldn't be taught in a secular ethics class?

prawn 11y ago

No, I think it goes without saying that ethics classes would find common ground with major religions. But I think we have everything we need to have learnt from a history with religion and can do without the ridiculous bits in 2015+. Not saying that people can't practice freely, but that it has no place in state education and government. No need for it in ethics classes either. FWIW, I come from a country where religion doesn't play a big part in life and can think of two friends out of 50-100 that would be considered at all religious. Religion might seem more relevant to people in other countries obviously.

ionised 11y ago

> Do you dismiss that much of the moral and ethics we have today in our society evolved in parallel with religious teachings? Yes. Much of our morality and ethics are innate and stem from our nature and evolution as a social species. Religion just took credit for it. Even social groups of monkeys and rodents tend to avoid killing eachother and do what is in the best interests of the group.

purpled_haze 11y ago
> Much of our morality and ethics are innate and stem from our nature and evolution as a social species. Where is your evidence for this? It would seem more evident to me that the source I am aware of through my education in history and life experience for teaching of morals and ethics has been religion. Although many here may not be old enough to realize it, countries that are mostly secular not long ago historically speaking had much moral and ethical teaching from their religions. Attributing this to monkeys and innate behavior may account for part, but from what I understand, you could just as easily bring up monkeys in a ruthless environment where it is every monkey for him/herself. Having an established organization or organizations that teach morals and ethics is important.
- prawn 11y ago
  Like your ruthless monkeys, someone could point to countless proclaimed adherents in jail or advocating bloodthirsty war or abusing children or embezzling community funds. Are there any important religious teachings that wouldn't be taught in a secular ethics class?