Comment on "True Satanism" Is at Least Agnostic or Might Be Against Abortion
sj_zero@lotide.fbxl.net 1 year agoI'm a hard atheist (not really a choice, I just don't believe), but if you wipe the slate clean you're going to be stuck with an insurmountable problem: famously you can't get an ought from an is. All the facts in the world won't tell you what first principles of an ethic are.
I had a major existential crisis for a while because an atheistic viewpoint can be nihilistic -- why do we live a good life? Why bother? What does the universe think we should do?
Eventually I recognised there is an innate moral sense I got somehow, but it wasn't until recently that I realized that the innate moral sense comes in part from our culture, which includes religion.
One of the first things I bought for my son was a beautiful leather bound bible and I recently bought him an illustrated children's bible, and I intend to involve our family with the church as he grows up. This is an important part of our culture, and a lot of our fundamental ethical principles are derived from that.
Scruffy_Nerfherder@wolfballs.com 1 year ago
In an off chance you haven't heard of him, you might be interested in Stefan Molyneux
The problem with all morality outside of God is that it will always be beneficial to be just a hair less honest than your competitors. In a naturalistic battle for women and resources, that is all that matters. Overtime then society becomes a race to the bottom as everyone tries to find the optimal level of dishonesty.
If all you have is matter and no spirit, it is impossible to transcend matter because there is no where to go. In a world where life, death, reproduction are all that matter there is no room for honesty.
IMHO, that is the reason secular ethics fall apart. They cannot have absolute divine justice.
sj_zero@lotide.fbxl.net 1 year ago
As Jordan Peterson likes to say, even if you don't believe in god, act as if there is a God.
I really love his biblical series, and as my kid grows up I intend to have him watch that as well. It goes to show that the allegory presented in these stories goes much deeper and goes to something that's built into us as humans.