harmony wrote:
"Mitchell Jones" wrote in message
...

***{I assume you are joking. If so, the absurdity of thinking that loss
of religion would somehow render a person less moral destroys any humor
that might otherwise have been present in your comment. In fact the loss
of religious beliefs, provided they are rejected for the right reasons,
is a necessary precondition of moral growth.

Let me elaborate.

The measure of immorality is simply the extent to which a person is
indifferent to contradictions. Indifference to contradictions, in turn,
arises out of the desire to fit in with "significant others"--parents,
relatives, co-workers, supervisors, teachers, spouses, etc. It is that
desire which leads most people to view opinions not as representations
of truth, but as tools of social interaction. Result: they refuse to
focus on reasoning that would reveal the falsehood of opinions that they
regard as socially expedient, and, over time, become habitually
indifferent to contradictions, and, indeed, resentful of those who point
them out. Since traditional religion, secular humanism,
environmentalism, communism, fascism, relativism, behaviorism, and
multitudes of other popular doctrines are rife with contradictions, yet
are not rejected by their proponents despite a lifetime of opportunities
to identify their shortcomings, it inescapably follows that the
wellsprings of evil do not lie in false doctrines per se, but rather in
the mental processes by which false doctrines are embraced and
sustained.

That means a person's loss of belief in religion or in any similar
internally contradictory system of belief will improve his moral stature
only if he rejected it *because* he recognized its inherent
contradictions and made up his mind that he was not going to tolerate
them. The search for contradictions is the only way that falsehoods can
be identified, hence removed, from a belief system. When the falsehoods
have been identified and rejected, the truth will be that which remains.

Truth, of course, is often not socially expedient. Thus to become a
moral person, one must be willing to be rejected by those who maintain
self-contradictory systems of belief. And that applies regardless of who
those people are, including parents, relatives, co-workers, supervisors,
teachers, spouses, etc. Instead of fearing such rejection, you should
look forward to it, for it is precisely those who will reject you for
seeking truth who comprise the walls of the prison that prevents you
from becoming the best person that you can be.

Therefore focus on contradictions, reject the falsehoods that they
reveal, accept the truths that remain, and watch the walls of your
prison melt away. Only then will the real world that exists reveal
itself to you, and allow you to find the road to happiness.

--Mitchell Jones}***


obviously, it does not trouble you that usa, a nation based on
judeo-christian principles, will turn into a heathen country, thanks to
hubble. damn liberals.

I think he just explained to you how a heathen country might
well be more ethical that one based on Judeo-Christian
principles. Go back and read it again.