Those of us without religion can and should have ethics.
Morality is the believers brand name for it.
So9
Sanctimoniously self-righteous bigots can be so tiresome can't they.
An accurate critique of today's Christianity...not necessarily of some Christians who really do practice their faith. Overall, why the focus on others' "immorality" when I should be busy just cleaning up my side of the street. I see a lot of very fancy church buildings where people go every Sunday while poverty and suffering is right there around them.
the mention of Ronald Sider was really interesting because I know his son - he's a professor, and my advisor, at Rutgers. Definitely very different from his father - voted for Kerry, not religious - but a pretty nice guy too. I had no idea his dad was so involved in evangelical activism.
You don't necessarily have to be religious to practice the moral virtues. Four of the Seven Cardinal Virtues as defined over the centuries by the Catholic Church were Aristotelian cardinal virtues: prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude. The pagans developed many other virtues as well, such as patience, honesty, and magnanimity.
Somehow I doubt, on the basis of his writings, whether Eric Alterman knows much about any of this. One might add to the list of virtues other concepts such as truth, which is little valued or practiced by liberal news reporters, as evidenced by their writings.
A fundie would claim all are sinners and that only Christ can save us. The last thing a fundie would claim is moral superiority because that is not biblical.
Secondly, this article makes me believe even more strongly that the left fears morality because of the word "no". Nothing in the world scares a leftist more than the word "no", in fact. The idea that there might be societal limitations to just how much they can "love" their dog in public, to whether or not images of buggery should be allowed on billboards, to whether the public should pay for "artists" to do "interesting" things to chocolate, etc. just frightens them to no end.
I believe a large majority of leftists were spoiled, petulant children who got in trouble for doing something they shouldn't, and decided right then and there they were going to make the world pay for the "injustice" of their parental scolding. The idea anyone, let alone society at large, should be able to say "that's not right" gives them the willies, and brings back that childhood trauma. I half expect a leftist, when challenged on anything, to start in with "I can't hear you, la la la la la" with their fingers in their ears. Hell, they already are using the "adult" equivalent of "you're not the boss of me!" any time morality is mentioned. Alterman is just a prime example of that.
The only thing the left considers moral is satisfying their various appetites.
...or to force a thirteen year old girl who has been raped by her father to give birth to that child...
Why do they always cite this as though there are millions of US kids in this condition? Perhaps it is an ongoing problem in ultra liberal homes?
(Yes that was a nasty comment, but I wanted to be on equal terms with Mr. Alterman's caustic bile so that he might rightly understand that his Christianphobia - see homophobia - is clearly unhinging him.)
The stupid jackass is using material from the last 40 years like he has some new insight. We have heard all this BS before, and this time around we ain't buying. Fool me once, shame on you...fool me twice, and shame on me. Go crawl back into your hole Eric The Un-insightful.
Morality and all of its associated concepts are based on the belief that some higher power is defining the correctness of human behavior.
Anyone who says I am immoral is no different than a preacher or rabbi telling me I am a sinner...
Plato's Euthyphro is a great illustration. Socrates advances the argument to Euthyphro that, piety to the gods, who all want conflicting devotions and/or actions from humans, is impossible.
Likewise, morals are such a construction of idols used by the Left as a rationale for them to demand compliance to their wishes in politics, which most often are a skewed mess of fallacies in logic.
Morals are a deceptive replacement for the avoidance of sin.
If a person believes in a God, it is the conviction of the Holy Ghost by which they are guided and not by the idolatrous vanities of morals constructed by others.
One thing an evolutionist cannot answer is if their idea of a "big bang" theory is really an admission the universe is an Immaculate Conception...
DNA is the singularity that evolutionists rely upon by belief to support their theory. This is no different than the Big Bang - - just another Immaculate Conception...
What a lot of people forget when they promote such NONSENSE is the Aristotelian categorical model and scientific method...
When was this written? 40 years ago???
Secularists love it when they see a Christian fall. They delight in rubbing our noses in it and taunting us.
They don't understand that we all acknowledge that we're flawed humans. Christians have no corner on the morality market... We just know the rules and keep trying to improve.
INTREP