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Religion and the Illusion of Morality |
Believers believe that they have an advantage over non believers. They believe that they have moral certainty. They believe that they can tell right from wrong and that it's black and white. They point to the Bible or the Koran and say that it's God's word and that's what they believe. Everything else is some kind of relative morality. But do believers really have moral certainty? Not by a long shot. Individually they think they do, but every one of them has a different personal opinion of what is right and wrong And their opinion is usually very different than everyone else's in their congregation. The moral certainty is just and illusion. Just because they believe they have it doesn't make it real.
For example, Christians point to the Ten Commandments and declare, "That's GOD'S Law!" But they fail to read the rest of the book that contains those commandments. If you point out that God demands the death penalty for working on the Sabbath and perhaps they should report to the executioner, for some reason they balk at they idea. I can't imagine why they wouldn't want to die for the sin of working on the Sabbath? After all, by repenting of their sins and being executed they can leave the "evil world" behind and be with Jesus. At least if I were morally certain the way they claim that's what I would do. But things are not as morally certain as they appear.
But they say, that's Old Testament. That doesn't apply anymore. Oh Really? What happened to, "I believe every word of the Bible comes from God and it's all true?" Who is to say what part is obsolete? Did God get it wrong? Did God change his mind? How can God change his mind if he can see the future? Surely you can't believe that God didn't know what the New Testament would have in it when he wrote the Old Testament, or did the rules change? If God is changing the rules then maybe the rules have changed again in the last 2000 years? And if God can change his mind then do we still have moral certainty? I don't think so!
Islam has moral certainty. If you're an Infidel you deserve death. Or if you are a woman who has committed a sexual sin, you deserve death. In Muslim controlled Indonesia you can get the death penalty for smoking pot, but if you are a terrorist and kill hundreds of people, you get two years in prison. Scientologist look at the rest of the world as subhuman. To them you can do anything to them because they don't matter. Killing the non believers is common among many religions. If you ask them, most will deny it, but when the Iranian Supreme Court condemns a teenage girl to death for being raped, that doesn't strike me as coming from a place of morality. That sounds like immoral certainty in my way of believing.
Just because you believe that God is on your side and that you read the Bible and go to church on Sunday doesn't make you a moral person. It's the difference between form and substance. It's going through a morality ritual but it isn't morality. Often people use the term morality as a way of asserting their moral superiority, or Moral Masturbation. It is a trick that religions use to keep you plugged in to the Cult Mind, but it is all just an illusion. It's fake morality and it makes you to live the lie.
To us the term "Moral Certainty" mean that it is both moral and certain. Let us focus on the certainty part because we can argue morality forever. If something is certain that means it is clear and without question. To me it mean that everyone who believes a certain way will all agree on what they believe in. For example, all Christians agree on what is moral and you can ask any one of them and they will all say the same thing? See what I mean?
If believers can't agree on what moral certainty is then it isn't certain.
The problem is that if you rely on a fictional deity to tell you what to do, then you have a problem with the deity not being consistent. If the deity tells people the opposite things then you lose certainty and it's anyone's guess which one is moral. In fact this is one of those objective tests that indicate to me if a religion is controlled by an invisible omnipotent deity, or if it's just an illusion. If God exists and if God is talking to people, then these people who God is talking to should get the same message. For example, I am real. When everyone reads this web site they all see the same words. And if you asked someone what they read, it would be fairly consistent. But when you talk to people who converse with God, they all have a different and often conflicting story. This make me think that they are just making it up.
What is being put out as morality and certainty is neither moral nor certain. It is words without substance. When you purify the truth of it, you determine that it is really bullshit. If we can't be certain about moral certainty, then we don't really have moral certainty do we?
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