Because I am not one to back down at the first sign of disagreement, and/or, because I'm very direct in my approach, and/or, by sheer virtue that I'm an Agnostic Atheist, I am frequently accused of things like being a contrarian, "negative", a "know-it-all", "close-minded", "difficult", a big meanie, and most recently, I wasn't given the benefit of doubt when it came to something that most of us take for granted, such as, which personal attributes are noble to acquire and keep.
As one might guess, I contend that I am none of the above, and instead, I would chalk it up to the fact that I just have a low tolerance for bull$hit. It's more complex than that, of course; that was just in a nutshell. And what most likely led to this intolerance is the fact that I was fed bull$hit, even starting as early as prior to when I had theory of mind..i.e..2, 3, 4 yrs old. Of course, I speak mainly of my indoctrination of Christianity by Christian relatives. From those early years until about my mid-30s, I wasted a good chunk of my life believing bull$hit was actually "good", and good was actually "bull$hit", or as one of my fellow bloggers puts it, "good is evil", and "evil is good"(thanks Alice)
See, Christianity and its Christians teach consequentialism, which holds that consequences for the way one acts are the basis for the judgement of those acts. IOW, "moral" and "immoral" depend on the consequences of an act. Welp, sorry, but no..... wait....not just "no", but hell, no(pun intended).
For starters, if one behaves in a certain way simply because they're commanded to do so, then they're neither being "moral" or "immoral"; they're merely obeying orders. And? You know the next question, right? It's this: How do you know that what you're being commanded to do is actually "moral"????? Answer: You filter the command through your own, innate sense of morality and common sense, that's how. If you're commanded to "love your neighbor", that's a no brainer, because you know damned-well that since you expect to be treated with respect, you can therefore safely conclude that you should do the same for your neighbor. What if your neighbor looks at your wife and thinks, "Dang, I'd like to hit that!"(assuming they tell you they just thought that)??? Should they be put to death? Did they just commit "adultery"??? Or wait.....what if your neighbor actually invites men into the bedroom? Is that which is technically "adultery", still immoral?
These questions require good answers, and I contend that religion and its "consequentialism" cannot provide such answers, and in fact, it can only provide the lousiest of answers.
In the last post I talked about instances where "black'n white" thinking is actually a good thing. Now I'm going to shift things around and talk about instances when such thinking is a bad thing. I contend that it is a bad thing to do something/refrain from something based solely on the respective reward/punishment. In doing so, you're not even acting as moral agent; you're simply acting out of fear and selfishness. And really, it goes beyond "good" Vs "evil", because with Divine Command Theory, there is no "good" or "evil"; there is only what "God" commands.
IOW, with DCT, rightness and wrongness instantly becomes a relative thing, and therefore, it isn't, and cannot be, the objective morality that believers claim that it is. If nothing prevents "God" from commanding something that we'd all agree is evil, then the problem becomes obvious. On the other hand, if something external prevents "God" from commanding something that we'd all agree is evil, then that very clearly illustrates that this "God" follows an external standard of "morality".
And then of course there's the fact that, since my becoming an Atheist - and subsequently, since I no longer believe in "Hell" - not once have I got the urge to ax murder anyone or eat any babies. So far, something besides a shallow threat is keeping me from doing all these vile things that Atheists supposedly are "free" to do. And if it's "written on my heart", that sort of flies in the face of "free will", doesn't it???
Like clockwork, it just doesn't add up.
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