From God, say believers.
From reason, some philosophers say.
Seldom considered is a new source now being advocated by a few biologists: that of evolution.
(For the same reason why some crazy religious people get a lot of attention? )
There’s no question that religion can have some ugly moral and social consequences. It is argued that the homophobic and misogynist attitudes of many Evangelicals come directly out of their holy texts. So do the Islamic concepts of jihad and dhimmitude. So does the Jewish notion of favored bloodlines. So do Mormon and Scientologist recruiting practices. The Bible prescribes death penalty for 36 infractions, ranging from childhood disobedience to marital infidelity to witchcraft. The Quran contains over a hundred verses sanctifying the slaughter of infidels in one context or another.
There can be no question that not all ideologies are created equal. Religions differ in their history, teachings, priorities, and consequently how readily they are leveraged to justify oppression or violence. To consider this month’s most salient example- death penalty for blasphemy; it is natural that some religious people are likely to flare when testosterone gets ignited by blasphemous pictures. The 'Onion' (a newspaper founded in 1988 by the University of Wisconsin students and published weekly from New York) made this point clear with a cartoon depicting Jesus, Moses, Ganesh, and Buddha engaging in sex, beneath the caption, 'No One Murdered Because of This Image'. Though some members of the Jewish, Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist faiths were reportedly offended by the image, sources confirmed that upon seeing it, they simply shook their heads, rolled their eyes, and went on with their day. From the standpoint of humanity’s shared moral code, most people of faith are more restrained, humble, and compassionate than the writers, proponents and religious heads/ bishops of their sacred texts. And so will we be. Moral dumbfounding occurs when moral judgment fails to come up with a convincing explanation for what moral intuition has decided.
Thanks.
