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Home Front: Culture Wars
Atheist lobbyist champions "Amoral morality"
2005-09-21
ScrappleFace
(2005-09-20) -- America's atheists finally have a voice in Washington D.C. to champion the cause of the "amoral minority," and the rights of those who believe in no intrinsic basis for rights.

"For too long, those of us who don't believe in God have been discriminated against because we have no objective standard of right and wrong," said Lori Lipman Brown, the executive director of the new Secular Coalition for America. "We need to let legislators know that the so-called 'morality' upon which our laws are based, is really just a product of uncontrollable electro-chemical reactions in the brain. Our laws shouldn't punish people who violate standards that we don't believe really exist."

Ms. Brown said public educators "pay lip service to 'survival of the fittest', but when it comes to the legal system, we put the best predators behind bars and play nursemaid to the weak, crippled and pathetic creatures who should be culled from the herd."
Posted by:Korora

#1  "Amoral morality" is called "ethics". And while the dictionary does not distinguish between morality and ethics, in practice, they have a very precise division.

Morality is the body of laws created in "heaven", and subject to interpretation either through priests and other shamen, or directly in individuals. If you violate them, you are either punished by God, or by the priests acting in his behalf.

Ethics are the laws of men, created and enforced by men. If you violate them, you are not punished by the gods, you are punished by men. The United States is founded *not* on morality, but on ethics. Our constitition begins, "We the people...", *not* "God having ordained..."

Ethics can change with a change in the law. Morality can only change with either benign neglect of the law from priests; or if both somebody convinces a bunch of followers that God has changed the rules, and they are powerful enough to *force* the non-followers to accept the new rules.

Otherwise, you get "situational morality", the flip side to the much-despised "situational ethics". The trouble with situational morality is that eventually, priests will have to determine if you have broken the law or not. With situational ethics, it will be a jury of your peers.

And situational morality is far more subjective than situational ethics. If priests say "God forbids you from shaving your cat", but then say, "Ah, but what this means is that you are forbidden from eating tuna fish while wearing leotards"; it is far more convoluted that a judge pondering whether or not your actually shaving your cat is a constitutional act, protected free speech, animal abuse, or just tacky, if legal.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2005-09-21 22:19  

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