Good and Evil

[lisztisforkids]

The results of this pole will be very interesting. Because many people on this forum do not beleive in God yet nearly every human being I have met beleives in good and evil.

[mycrabface]

The results of this pole will be very interesting. Because many people on this forum do not beleive in God yet nearly every human being I have met beleives in good and evil.

They would rather have fun and enjoy their lives now while they can, and neglect the future and its consequences..

[gorbee natcase]

They would rather have fun and enjoy their lives now while they can, and neglect the future and its consequences..

You are right of course

[lisztisforkids]

Let me rephrase the question. Do you beleive that there is a standard among all human beings about what is right and wrong?

[cfortunato]

[[The results of this pole will be very interesting. Because many people on this forum do not beleive in God yet nearly every human being I have met beleives in good and evil.]]

[[They would rather have fun and enjoy their lives now while they can, and neglect the future and its consequences.. ]]

I'm a very dedicated Christian, and I think your statement is just silly. 
People don't believe in God for a whole variety of reasons, not just because they are hedonists.  That's silly.  I've known a few atheists who had morals that put a lot of Christians to shame.

[gorbee natcase]

OK I wanted to say yes there is but some people do not get it when you tell them you can't do someting because it is immoral because they are so self concerned and will go ahead with it anyway. You have religious people who and just plain nice people who will go out of there way to do good. It depends on how you were brought up

Perhaps people do know the difference between right and wrong/But a lot of people just don't care as we are selfish creatures. If you help an old person accross the road are you doing it to make yourself feel good

[Torp]

Good and Evil, moral and immoral, right and wrong, these terms are all relative and change within cultures and across time.

Many cultures dictate that killing another human being is wrong.  The punishment for doing it?  Death.  So, killing is wrong...unless...it is ordained and approved by that particular culture or legal system.  This means that it is relative.

For something to be absolute it either is or it isn't.  I find most things to be grey, not black and white.

People don't believe in God for a whole variety of reasons, not just because they are hedonists. That's silly. I've known a few atheists who had morals that put a lot of Christians to shame.

I think this is a good point.  It is part of the reason that many non-religious people get so annoyed by the bible-thumping evangelical missionary types who always say we'll go to hell if we don't renounce our evil ways and follow the path of righteousness.

[prometheus]

I am obsessed with morality and ethics and I am an atheist.

I do not believe in good and evil. Hitler thought he was doing something good.

Good and evil is just used to polarise a situation to capitalise on it because of political reasons. Notice how in wars the enemies are dehumanised so killing them is percieved as killing a beast, not a human. Remembers me about the Star Trek episode Voy 4x04 Nemesis.

Imo this requires even more careful considerations. It makes it harder, it makes the use of ethics even more important. Just 'being on the side of good' isn't enough. In theory everything is subjective. Everything is either a social/cultural or a genetic construction. This doesn't mean they are irrelevant, on the contrary.

I do believe that the views about right and wrong, true and false, good and evil as proposed by theism are dangerous. I would kill for the sake of good. I would kill for God. If those thing existed. And most other people would too.

I find people that claim there is no room for morality and ethics without God absurd. Evenmore so when you consider all the immoral acts in the bible that aren't condemned and in some cases are even justified or viewed as 'the right thing to do'.

In general I agree with the views of Nietzsche en Russelts on the morality of theism.

[gilad]

i agree with  prometheus. i'm agnostic, and tend to believe  more that god isn't than is. you can't assume that because religions are essentially accepted to be "devine" moral codes others dont exist.
i question the morals of relgion anyway, all have their dark sides, none have been exempt from immorality thoughout the ages.
religion has shaped secular ethics throughout time, as have secular ethics shaped religion. they have maybe made each other more moral, more "good and less evil".