johnhanks
Well-Known Member
This thread is intended to move an off-topic discussion from the Evolution vs Creationism forum to a more appropriate place. The story so far:
Underlying all this is the argument over whether moral codes are strictly human inventions, or are absolute mandates imposed by divine authority. As a liberal-leaning atheist, I obviously adopt the former position, and will be happy to debate it further should anyone take up the challenge.
- It has been claimed that secularisation leads / has led to moral decline (in the US at least, for which allegedly supporting statistics have been cited).
- I have countered by citing research comparing religious nations to less religious nations (and within the US religious states to less religious states): this research shows the opposite to be true - secular societies perform more strongly than religious ones on a wide range of moral criteria, including homicide rates, incarceration, divorce rates, domestic violence, altruism and support for minority rights. A good summary can be found here.
Underlying all this is the argument over whether moral codes are strictly human inventions, or are absolute mandates imposed by divine authority. As a liberal-leaning atheist, I obviously adopt the former position, and will be happy to debate it further should anyone take up the challenge.