quote From: Skeptic Date: 23-Sep-01 - 04:16 PM

Amos,

I agree that religions seem to thrive on obliteration of self. The idea of what is right and wrong is based on God, Allah or the Big Green Rock on the Hill Behind the Village.

It would seem that in purely secular ethics, the individual is the vital and validating element of right and wrong. The ethic grows out of and is intrinsic to the individual, making it more difficult to justify harm to another person. With any degree of honestly and integrity, very difficult.

Religions based on some force outside the individual don't suffer from the same constraint as right and wrong exist independently of the individual..............

from donuel : This is very close to the truth from a Hobbsian nihilist point of view. I would go on to say that any group be it religious, corporate OR governmental will create its own "ethics" to get an upper hand on their neighbor. The rare individuals like Ghandi ,Dali Lama ,Pete Seager or Big Bird do not have different constraints of ethics than the collective that they lead , they simply may be more in control of themselves.

However I wish to strongly condemn your SACRELIGIOUS , BLASPHEMOUS , DEFILING OF THE BIG GREEN ROCK ON THE HILL BEHIND MY VILLAGE !!!!!!!!!!!!!iiyyiyiyiyi AVENGE THE BIG GREEN ROCK