Morality and Belief

I had the great fortune of seeing one of America's funniest comedians on Saturday night. Emo Phillips put on a great show,despite attempts from idiots who don't know how to turn off cell phones and drunken bachelorettes to ruin the evening for everyone.

Emo told a great joke (actually he told it twice as he appeared to be a little befuddled by all the distracting idiots in the crowd). "I used to pray to God everynight for a bicycle, then I realized that God doesn't work in that way. So I stole one and prayed for forgiveness." This actually ties in rather well with the topic of this post.

I was listening to Christian hate radio the other day on the way to Baraboo (the FM transmitter wasn't working all that well, and I needed something to drown out the shit that goes on in my head). But before I tell you what I heard, I'd like to describe Christian hate radio (CHR). CHR is the type of good, Christian broadcast that exists not to celebrate God, but to destroy the thousands of other established religions in the world so that their church (invariably some small minded baptist church from middle Tennessee), stands alone as the paradigm of virtue in a world run by Satan.

On this particular broadcast, I heard the good reverend say the same tried and true line rationalists, agnostics, and atheists have heard countless times. "Atheists have no morals, science has no morals, they use their Atheism -- their belief that God doesn't exist as an excuse to unleash terrible acts on the world in the name of progress." Now I'm not going to get into whether theists or atheist are more moral than the other, that's ridiculous, obviously people of faith and people that have no faith live great virtuous lives and faith has little to do with it.

We can all agree that this line of thought is not the way all theists think, and I don't want people to assume that I'm picking on believers, that is most certainly not the case, and I also want to make it clear that I don't have a bone to pick with religion. I've made it clear that I have a deep reverence for those with faith.

But what does it say of someone that will claim Atheists will partake in all kinds of evil acts because they don't believe in God, and then turn right around and tell of a God that will forgive all sins if one just prays hard enough? What if Eva Braun killed Hitler just after he repented with all his heart and soul? Would then the murderer of 6 million Jews be instantly redeemed in the eyes of the Lord because he was no longer amoral? There is something inherently wrong with the line of logic pursued by the good Reverend quoted above, just as there is something inherently wrong with saying: what's to stop atheists from killing and raping kids (a question you'll come across if you engage in internet message boards about the question of God)? Well I don't know about them, but I don't kill and rape children because I have absolutely no desire to kill or rape children. I think it's wrong, deplorable, and I have absolutely no desire to engage in that sort of action.

All these stupid lines of thought that are spewed by either side do nothing to open up honest religious dialog, it only keeps people from wanting to engage in honest discourse, and if your goal is to get people to see the majesty of God, you are doing more harm than good to your cause.

The F.D.