[ExI] Evolutionary psychology and religion

[Mike Dougherty]

On Dec 11, 2007 1:44 AM, Seien <seienchan at gmail.com> wrote:

> >if he can start a church with morality as a goal, maybe the powerful god
> representation can trump the larger numbers if they believe themselves
> subject to his desire.  (of course it's easier if you start programming them
> as early as possible to accept the doctrine before they have any experience
> with logic and rational thinking)
>
> >But if you take it all away, what are you left with?
> --Mike Dougherty
>
> And Mike: Morality IS rationality. It would be quite abhorrent to follow
> an idea with no rational justification. Morality is about ideas and theories
> on the best way to live. This is arrived at rationally. Again, persuasion
> over coercion. There's no need to speak like a savage when you have the mind
> of a human being. :)
>
> Also, if you're going to use a gender pronoun, you may as well use the
> right one: I am female.
>

To be honest, I kind of lost track of which object the pronoun in that
statement was referring (you, the church, god, ???)  Thanks for the update
though, I will try to not make that mistake again.

I agree with your definition of morality and rationality.  I was using a
more jaded impression of the coerced behavior in the guise of morality
dictated by a religious institutional authority.  Are the laws of the Church
as obvious as the "laws of Nature" vs "Natural Law" - or are they twisted
around obvious truths in a way that makes believe without understanding more
acceptable?  (forgive my ignorance - I had one semester-long class on
"Christian Morality" at a Catholic university.  It was a long semester.)
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