Moral Compass

Ta-Wan

Perhaps noted by some in my last post I've clarified a number of my problems with religion by reading the excellently written and argued The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins (also summed up quite well in the free-to-view The Root of All Evil? documentary by him and available on YouTube.

Whether you agree with his full argument or not (I did, but perhaps go further still) then you'll find much of worth in the book and it is also great to read the words of an intelligent person and be impressed by how well crafted a book can be.

One excellent point he raises is why people cite The Bible or other religious book as "moral compass".

"Well" they say "The bible speaks out against rape and theft"

"Interesting!" he says "so the only thing stopping you doing such things is that God would punish you?"

He says that we have done quite well as a species in seeing what is right and wrong and any modern free thinking person, nay child even, will clearly point out to you that rape, theft and murder are not good for us, and they'll do that without needing to quote an ancient text.

Further, he goes on, you actually need your own moral compass to be firmly true if you choose the Bible as guide as there are so many calls for judgment over the contents. Examples such as the man who offers his daughter up for gang rape to save a man from anal rape. Do we see this as a bit old fashioned now or do we do the same in the same situation as that is what the Bible tells us to do?

Quite right, it's out of date, written for an era we don't belong to and not suited to modern morality.

You can check out Ta-Wan's other musings here.