>>>I would be hard pressed to find any scientific and empirically supported argument for rejecting violence and increasing empathy. In fact, if you look in the

>>>I would be hard pressed to find any scientific and empirically supported argument for rejecting violence and increasing empathy. In fact, if you look in the empirical examples from the nature, abhorrent violence and terrifying behavior is the regular occurrence. See "Who's Afraid of the Naturalistic Fallacy?" by Oliver Curry for the prevailing view on morality and evolution (in the absence of religious assumptions). No naturalist is looking to nature for morality, we look to our values as beings designed by evolution for sociality, and the argument is as sound as it was back when Hume made it. http://www.epjournal.net/wp-content/uploads/ep04234247.pdf http://www.epjournal.net/wp-content/uploads/ep04234247.pdf You can also review Jonathan Haidt's research on moral emotions and evolution to see that science can do very well on the topic of morality. http://faculty.virginia.edu/haidtlab/articles/alternate_versions/haidt.2003.the-moral-emotions.pub025-as-html.html http://faculty.virginia.edu/haidtlab/articles/alternate_vers... >>>However, if you look at religions, you can find plenty of argument for empathy and non-violence. Of course, not in all religions, but at least you can find some sources for these ideas there, while you find very little in the empirical science. Same goes for other ideas that underly most of western society, such as Protestant work ethics, or rule of law, or concepts of law and justice, etc. You may dismiss the religion as stupid superstitions, but be careful not to throw out the whole civilization we're living in that was built on the same basis. But why has violence decreased and so much moral progress made while secularism has also increased? Attributing the good to religion even in part just won't work. It seems, rather, that religion is just another cultural phenomena being shaped and changed by more powerful and influential factors in human moral evolution, as Pinker argues in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Better_Angels_of_Our_Nature http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Better_Angels_of_Our_Nature