Hi Steve, > > Platt, you asked: > > > > All of which raises the question: Is Christian morality also an > > intellectual level morality? -- > > If what you are talking about the Golden Rule, aka the ethics of > reciprocity I would agree. Why would anyone take me seriously if I do > to them what I say that I don't want done to me? This is an exteremly > rational approach to morality. In fact, virtually every > culture/religion has developed it's own articulation of this moral > strategy. See http://www.religioustolerance.org/reciproc.htm
The Golden Rule takes many forms and has been, as you say, found in one form another in almost every culture. In fact, I recall some Darwinists saying the "ethics of reciprocity" is an inherited trait since some higher animals have been observed to behave that way, e.g, "You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours." Whether we can call that "rational" is an open question. Perhaps "expedient" would be more accurate. > However, Christians generally view morality as trying not to anger > their god rather than in terms of trying to find ways of promoting > human flourishing or promoting the evolution of static patterns toward > dynamic quality. So I would say that Christian ethics may often be > consistent with an intellectual approach to morality, but it is based > on authority, a social pattern, rather than intellect. Good point about authority being a social pattern. As a practical matter, I wonder if moral guidelines aren't more efficacious when based on accountability to the authority of God rather than rely on the authority of some SOM intellectual atheist who says that's what nice people do. > The idea of the > MOQ is pick up and dust off such social patterns and see which ones > are promoting intellectual intellectual freedom while controlling > biological threats to society and suppose those, while opposing the > ones that aren't doing their job. Agree -- an important reminder. > The real question seems to be, is Christianity doing it's job as a > social pattern of freeing intellect while controlling biological > patterns? On balance I would say, "Yes." The days when Christianity fought the physical sciences tooth and nail are long gone. But, questions of evolution and sanctity of life are still unsettled, at least in the minds of many. But, you're right. Until the MOQ is widely accepted (we should live so long), the question you pose is very real indeed. Best, Platt Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
