I don't need religion to be a good person.

hitler

My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God's truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was His fight for the world against the Jewish poison. To-day, after two thousand years, with deepest emotion I recognize more profoundly than ever before the fact that it was for this that He had to shed His blood upon the Cross. As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice... And if there is anything which could demonstrate that we are acting rightly it is the distress that daily grows. For as a Christian I have also a duty to my own people.

-Adolf Hitler, in a speech on 12 April 1922 (Norman H. Baynes, ed. The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, April 1922-August 1939, Vol. 1 of 2, pp. 19-20, Oxford University Press, 1942)

 

So you cannot explain people like hitler? Ok then. If people are so good then why are there prisons?

 

So what? Do you think Hitler was the first to use religion in a bad way? Look up Jim Jones, admitted atheist, who also admitted to using religion for his view of a greater good.

It isn't uncommon for atheist killers to pretend to be religious.

 

I do not know why it is so difficult for secularists to admit humanity has a dark side. Probably because they are too busy blaming religion for everything.

 

So, you equate empathy with morality. You provide another name for this phenomena, but do not give the source. Why do humans have this trait, but not other animals?

Brain? I thought the smarter, & more crafty were rewarded.. the better you are at deception, theft, self preservation, the better for survival. How does morality find a basis in that?

You miss the point. I have not been talking about religious belief, but the BASIS for morality. If you believe in atheistic naturalism you have no basis for terms like 'good', or 'moral'.. those are relative terms, and are just platitudes. There is no basis to be a 'good' person, in the naturalistic worldview. Now, i am not saying that atheists are not good, just that there is no basis for the claims of morality. Those are just delicacies, chosen at random, from a Morality Smorgasbord. You take what you want, & leave what you don't want. That is the only rational conclusion for a naturalistic belief system.

 

You are denying, then, that you implied that "if the Christian God were to exist, then He would be choosing one football team over another"? [Bold in original]

 

Would it be fair to conclude that you are not merely non-religious, but actually anti-religious?

 

I think some animals do experience empathy. I would look to the physiology of the brain to explain the phenomenon.

 

I thought it shows why non-religious people are annoying. Guess it depends on perspective.

 

Aren't all people annoying? Why are you guys trying to let some people off the hook? Favouritism?

 

An innate knowledge of right and wrong in a moral sense is what makes me a good person. No religion is needed to be a good person, although if one finds that religion makes them a good person that is perfectly fine.

 

Yes, but I would say that "annoying" is a subjective term.

 

and which creator / deity are you referring too?

there have been thousands and thousands that people claim to be the true one

 

and yet your christianity teaches everyone is bad and a "sinner"

 

The thing is that Yeshua never said that this or that was a sin. Paul was the guy who pushed the concept of sin.

 

..doesn't matter to me, what name you ascribe, or what you think this Creator is like. But the principle of a Creator, who made all things, including man, & embedded this 'Natural Law' of absolute morality in him is the point. I don't care to get bogged down with bickering definitions.

'Creator' works for me.

 

Not at all. It just paints an accurate picture of humanity.

 

Mr. "I Merely Asset, All Others Must Demonstrate" speaks.

 

What made you feel you needed to be insulting?

 

You merely assert. You demand others demonstrate. Simple facts. Your interpretation and emotional response is not relevant, and no concern of mine.

 

you have proven my point about christianity

The Christian resolution to find the world ugly and bad has made the world ugly and bad.
Friedrich Nietzsche,

 

Anyone who thinks Hitler was a Christian hasn't got a clue about Christianity.

 

How does a fact turn into an opinion?

If murder was 'morally wrong' in the 80's how did it become reasonable in the 2010's?

 

What did Hitler do that was unChristian. Be specific.

 

No, you are thinking about liberals. Christianity has a good understanding of reality.