At 02:22 PM 3/11/2008 -0400, Ed Leafe wrote:
>On Mar 11, 2008, at 2:51 PM, Charlie Coleman wrote:
>
> > But what I'm wondering is where you get your basis of morals. If all we
> really have is ourselves as the basis, then who is to say
> > who is right and wrong?
>
> Did it ever occur to you that religions got their morals from
>society, and not the other way around?
I was trying to find my notes on some classes/discussions/studies I had on
the origin of societies. I think they had some good citations there. But I
couldn't find 'em. But the summary understanding I recall is that societies
end up being formed based on the family units that originally found the
society. And, in the past, the familial/tribal groups already have a basis
of their 'religious' understanding before they form into the more
encompassing/enlarging society.
I'll have to dig around some more. I remember it was an interesting study.
> Every other social animal in the world has an innate sense of how
> to
>recognize their own and how to deal with them. Why would people be any
>different?
Hmm... Generally, the "social animals" commit immediate violence upon
anyone else of their kind that trespass in their territory - and, in like
kind, the goal of the younger is to kill off the older/weaker to ensure
their own survival. Most also attempt to mate with as many others of their
kind as possible (not all, but most). It seems our "western" laws and
"morals" are in contradiction to those aspects, and probably many others.
> Have you ever noticed that by and large, people are the same all
>around the world? Customs may differ, but societal norms are
>remarkably similar. It is a very self-serving attitude of religions to
>claim that morals are handed down from On High, with Religion X as the
>only way to really get the inside scoop on how we are supposed to
>behave.
Actually, I don't think that is true. People themselves are similar, but
their interactions are anything but similar across the world. The early
culture of the Japanese is vastly different than the early culture of the
tribes in the heart of Africa, and both are different than our early
culture. In modern times, some cultures are becoming similar, but they did
not start off that way (at least from what I've studied).
-Charlie
©2008 Charlie Coleman |
