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It stems from the Protestant Work Ethic and religion more generally. One of the biggest sticking points, if not the single biggest, between rational humanism a
by otakucode 9y ago
It stems from the Protestant Work Ethic and religion more generally. One of the biggest sticking points, if not the single biggest, between rational humanism and religious viewpoints is the place of suffering in the world. Rational humanists view suffering as negative, and something to be avoided, alleviated, and prevented, hopefully to be eliminated. The religious view suffering as purposeful, as bearing meaning, and of a potential way others might be driven, out of stark desperation, into the arms of their religion.
The Protestant Work Ethic measures a persons virtue by how much suffering they endure in their work. The more poorly paid the work is, and the greater the suffering it causes, the more moral the worker. Desire for respite is vice. Desire for pay based on the value of the work being done is greed. Desire itself is far more immoral than any suffering inflicted, and something for which forgiveness should be sought.
- gt_ 9y agoI def don’t think your point is wrong, but doesn’t it fall far short of explaining the multi-cultural libertarian extremism we are seeing today?
- otakucode 9y agoMy comment was replying to the wondering over why so many in the USA in modern times see poverty and homelessness as moral failures to be punished. It has nothing whatsoever to do with "multi-cultural libertarian extremism," whatever you imagine that to be.
- naveen99 9y agoIs the desire to inflict suffering worse than actually inflicting suffering ? Interesting !
- otakucode 9y agoI was not speaking of inflicting suffering, but of experiencing it. Views on inflicting suffering and ethics, of course, are affected by a mindset which places value on suffering. It leads to things like the church opposing development of vaccines, of which they have always been among the staunchest opponents. Even as recently as the 1990s, the chaplain of the CDC in the US publicly stated that he would actively fight against the development of any kind of vaccine for HIV. Luckily I don't think he really had much influence in deciding what was to be researched or developed. But it is also quite easy to tell one's self that any suffering caused might not be all bad and might even be part of some greater plan if one considers experiencing suffering to have inherent value.
- lurquer 9y agoWhat church is against vaccinations? Even the RCC, with its concerns about some vaccines being derived originally from aborted fetuses, encourages vaccinations. For that matter who was the Chaplain at the Center for Disease Control of whom you speak? Does the CDC have a chaplain?
- grzm 9y agoOne example is Christian Science, which has had issues with vaccinations which has varied throughout its history. Also, according to Wikipedia: > "Forty-eight US states allowed religious exemptions for compulsory vaccination as of June 2015. In Australia the church was the only group with a religious exemption for vaccination as of April 2015; the government said that it planned to remove it." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Science#Religious_exemptions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Science#Religious_ex...