Morality.

Look, the author of this thread wanted to keep religion out of this. You could quote, probably every holy book ever written in the history of humanity, and you will find true statements, and false statements. If you want to start a thread on morality and truth in the Bible go right ahead.

Neologist clearly is a person that devoted his life to the Bible, and I reason if you take that away from him he is out of job...so let him, the conversation is just as serious as you take it to be. He established the field on which he wants to debate, you are not obliged to respond. I certainly wont.

Logicus is on vacation. Jeremiah made a statement consistent with his observations, as have I. Try to separate morality from religion without a crowbar. Can't be done.

Negatory, Fil. I don't get paid here. What I don't get from Social Security, I get from folks who need to light fires.

Can God exist without religion?!

Do you mean could he exist without anyone knowing? And us not knowing why the world is out of control? I suppose so; but what would be the point?

This precisely indicates forces of good and evil right?

So there is no universal moral code?! No right or wrong..ok then..rape a child and go to prison. Even those psycho or sociopaths won't think you're worthy to live.

You make a great point. I think the answer to that is yes and no.
As I said, I don't think there is some universal, cosmic, or celestial "good and evil."
Evolution is a mindless, unguided process. Evolution is indifferent to suffering. It is simply a process and nothing more. That process created the great diversity of life, but it is a very cruel process. 99% of all species that have ever lived have gone extinct. When a species goes extinct, that species undoubtedly suffers greatly. Species that out-competed (or were simply better adapted to its environment) those species lived to pass on their genes.
When a bear kills a human being we do not say that is an "evil" bear. When a killer whale kills a seal to eat we do not say that is an "evil" whale.

However, we have evolved enough intelligence, empathy, and decent enough consciences, that I think we, as human beings, could generally agree that certain occurrences such as genocide and senseless torture are morally wrong. There have been societies that have, when indoctrinated, committed or condoned genocide, human sacrifice for the Gods etc. I believe most people, without that extreme indoctrination, could agree that certain things are wrong absolutely in all circumstances. But, I still do not believe it is some cosmic absolute morality. There are some people who would say genocide is fine, and they may believe that statement just as strongly as you disagree with it.

If you are a Bible reader, check the 3rd chapter of Genesis where the subject of good and bad takes center stage. Indeed, man's desire to set his own standards is the proximate cause of our moral chaos

Conscience ...you mean the ability to differentiate right from wrong? Ok well maybe not all creatures are created equally. Maybe man was created with a different design...maybe that's why others are extinct and we are not.

Look, I do get tired of the cruelty in which some people treat the Christians on here, but at the same time I am sick of hearing about it. I am very familiar with the Bible and the Christian viewpoint. I do not believe it is truly the word of God, I believe it was written by desert nomads who knew very little about the world. Honestly, I would rather hear the Hindu or Buddhists take on morality. I completely agree with the author of this thread to leave out God or religion in this. Lets use our brains, our intellect and reasoning to have a somewhat original discussion on morality without having to resort to quoting religious books.

Are you getting into intelligent design because if you are save it for another thread. I do not feel like having a theistic debate. If others do, maybe I'll join in. Evolutionary biologists, psychologists have pretty good hypotheses on why and how certain aspects of our morals evolved. Look up reciprocal altruism and evolutionary psychology.

I just read your comment. Yes, I agree he is certainly entitled to have a discussion on morality, the Bible, theism etc. I see many threads where those topics are being debated. I just wish we could have certain threads, where the conversation would not turn into religious debates. Because once you quote the Bible or the Koran on a moral issue, then I will say why should we believe the Bible or Koran? Then the pious cherry pick the nice quotes, the atheist quote the nasty or absurd passages and contradictions, we start talking about evidence for the Bible and then ultimately evidence for God...

Funny thing...there unbelievably intelligent physicists that believed in the existence of God. Simply because you believe in God doesn't make you an underdeveloped idiot. Examples: Einstein, Max Planck. Werner Heisenberg. Get off your high horse..I'm not impressed.

You are the one who brought up conscience not me. So..don't tell me where the debate or sharing of ideas should go.

When one considers the ripple effect , it is only natural to seek its point of origin. So yes it entails the course of discourse whether intended or not.

Add Galileo, Newton, Priestly, et alia.

I'm sorry if I came across as rude. I'm not implying I'm more intelligent than anyone because I'm an atheist. I just don't feel like having a debate about the existence of God. One of the main reasons I posted on this thread was that the author asked to please not include God. I went to church, Bible study, Young Life for the 1st 18 years of my life. I'm very familiar with Christian theology. I was big into the New Atheist movement for a while. I've seen all of the debates on YT, I read New Atheists books, & so I've heard the arguments from both sides ad nauseam and I'm ready to move on. Occasionally, I'll get sucked into those debates again. If you guys want to debate that that's fine. I'm one of those losers whose been debating religious people for years on YT, and I was hoping to avoid it on able2know.

If you would like I can tell you about some of the studies evolutionary biologists and psychologist have done on behavior that could shed light on the evolution of our consciences. In fact that will give me a chance to research that stuff a little bit more because it is fascinating. Other animals have consciences. Apes fight and make up and I would assume they make up because they are feeling guilty. Feeling bad about a behavior they know was wrong could be called following their consciences. That would imply that they know fighting with relatives or friends is wrong, and mean they have a sense of right and wrong, however primitive that sense may be. There are many other examples.

conscience- an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one's behavior.