--- Jerry Fernandes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >Any attempt to arrive at an idea of "right" and >"wrong" independent of an outside or divine source is >destined to collapse upon itself. "Moral" atheists do >nothing but borrow wholesale from the codes of those >they look down on and have not even the courtesy or >intellectual consistency to acknowledge the source >material for their value judgement. >
Utter nonsense. At least two ancient religions which use basic human goodness as the source of their morality, Buddhism and Jainism, are atheistic in nature. Ancient materialistic and atheistic philosophies such as the Lokayata philosophy had a much higher moral standard than the theistic religions that emerged centuries later, namely Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. Above all, there is plenty of evidence that morality has a sound evolutionary basis, and that it predates civilization and culture. Several posts in support of these views have been posted and archived on Goanet over the years. Cheers, Santosh