ANSWERS: 22
  • Indeed!
  • Totally right. +5
  • Right but it takes actions to put people in either the good side or the evil side
  • That's PERFECT.
  • and what about evil people doing good things? did he mention anything about those?
  • I disagree with Weinberg. Religion doesnt make people do evil things. Evil thoughts make people do evil things. Lack of morals make evil people do evil things. Christianity, Islam, Judiasm, Hinduism, Buddism, etc all teach peace. Its the people with evil intentions who do the evil. Never was the religions fault. That was Steven Weinberg's opinion as an atheist Im sure if he had a religion that he would not have said that.
  • spot on +5
  • Seems a very well observed statement re. what motivates humanity at large and as individual packs united by specific religions. There are very many examples of ostensibly good people doing extraordinary things in God's name. En masse religion would seem to have pushed more good people into bad actions than any other passion.
  • He's completely wrong. In the 20th century, the greatest evils were done by the secular. Communists, who are all secular, are responsible for at least one hundred million murders. In the name of their atheistic ideology the idealists in the Soviet Union and China herded scores of millions into slave labors camps and worked and starved them to death. If Russians and Chinese had been left to their native religions they would not have done one hundredth as much evil. The proof is that they never did before, and, in the former Soviet Union, where religion is now allowed, they haven't since.
  • Finally...something I can embrace and with which I can agree without equivocation. Yes. I agree. :( Different topic..how are you doing my friend, weather-wise? It looks kinda scary on the east coast.
  • Agreed. Religion and religious folks seek to be free of criticism and being made fun of, by making such actions socially and legally undesirable. Thus many evil folks get carte blanche.
  • brilliant!
  • Oh boy, that is a good one! I agree!
  • Hmm...I think a good person in general knows what is good with or without religion. All people fall short of their expectations. Any good person can do something evil it doesnt mean their hasta be religion. Why cuz it tells people what is right and what is wrong? I think people at their very core already know what is right and wrong. Blah.
  • Hardly. As the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Many good people have done evil things with good intentions, with and without religion. Does the statement mean the example of the great Communist experiments of the 20th century mean that all atheists in those countries were evil because of the evils done in those countries? Or does that make atheism or communism their religion? It sounds more like one more atheist slagging religion without realistic grounds.
  • No. First no human being is totally good or totally evil. No one does all good or all evil. So good and evil actions are done by good and evil people in varying degrees. In my opinion, religion helps people to: + Recognize the difference between good and evil actions + Encourages people to be good + Discourages people to be evil With love in Christ.
  • No, I read the book "The Lucifer Effect" by Dr Zimbardo, where good people do evil things, and it had nothing to do with religion, and everything to do with not being accountable for their actions, having the ability to commit evil, and the silent majority not preventing it, and people wanting to conform. I found this book very powerful.
  • Religion is frequently the core of racial or social bigotry and intolerance. So, I'd have to at least partially agree with Weinberg on this one.
  • No, I disagree with him. People can do evil whenever they find a method of dehumanizing the person/people upon whom they are going to commit that evil. The general way people get there is through 'kin selection'.... . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kin_selection#Kin_Selection_in_evolutionary_psychology . ...which is the notion that me/my family/my tribe/my nation/my religion/etc. are on a different moral plane than The Other. You can see this in everything from the parent who works the system to get his/her child declared ADHD so that the child gets extra educational opportunities, to Sarah Palin talking about how moderate-to-liberal non-evangelical urban-dwellers are not 'Real Americans'. There are, of course, other examples to numerous to mention. Religion is simply one of the more common 'fig leafs' people use to dehumanize The Other. But using religion to do this is the symptom, not the cause. . . .
  • Of course not, don't be silly. The veracity of the first part depends on what he means. If "goodness" has objectivity, I think he is wrong. I think without religion what we call "good" would be redefined, so that in that society it would not be called good anymore (to an extent), and I think fewer people would be doing it. However, I think they would have practices that would be different that THEY would call "good", and if "goodness" is subjective than I suppose he would be right on that. I think it really makes a difference here, to me anyways. The second part in my opinion is however false. For "good" people to do evil things, that takes practice not religion. I believe that a truly good person has a difficult time doing bad things, and an easy time doing good things. Religion would not make them do bad things anymore believing in aliens would. If somebody is doing "evil things", rest assured there was something amiss with them on the inside to begin with. I'm not positive in my opinions....
  • Wrong. "Good" people do evil things all the time, sometimes with good motives and sometimes with evil ones and usually with both. Religion doesn't cause road rage, slanderous gossip, or padding an expense account. Niether does it cause a man to lie to his wife, children to steal money from their father's dresser, nor lead you to shift the blame to an innocent co-worker to cover your own ass. (Also, don't confuse good manners, self-discipline, and prudence with actual compassion and humility. Most human "goodness" in this world are due to the former, not the latter.) Now for evil people to do good things with good intentions ... now that usually takes religion.
  • I don't really believe that there is such a thing as a good or an evil person, but that people simply do things that are good or evil. Of course, religion can get people to do evil things that are disguised as good things, but religion is definitely not the only thing that can do that.

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