Anonquixote

How would you respond to someone who views Christianity as immoral and unethical by its very nature, because it insists on divorcing those same institutions from the reality we live in? If ethics and morality are meant to answer how to live a good life, subjective interpretations aside, mustn't their foundations be based in this dimension? If they come from God, who is unfathomable and unknowable, existing outside this realm... Well, no offense, but how is that really any different than being completely arbitrary? Could religions claim that they have a monopoly on morals in this way actually be what's primarily wrong with the world, by preventing us from finding the right morals? Also, could the concept of original sin be a self fulfilling prophecy? I don't think we're born evil by nature, we just get convinced that we're supposed to be.

I agree with what you're saying, that it can be used for both good or evil. It's a set of tools and it's up to who's wielding them. I didn't mean to discount the good that religion can also do for some people. But I confess I don't feel the question was quite answered. It's not the blending of religion with worldviews that I think makes Christian morals arbitrary, but that I think the God who commanded them to us doesn't actually exist. So from my perspective, it's a morality that's come from nowhere and founded on nothing, when our species desperately needs a guide for living that's actually grounded in this life. I can respect that you do believe he exists and that's fine, but if he exists only in an unfathomable and unknowable limitless form (how it's always been explained to me anyway), how does anyone think they've met him or interpreted him correctly? Said another way, if he exists only in some unknowable alternate dimension, then what's that even got to do with us in this one? That's what I mean by arbitrary. One of the commandments is honor your mother and father but some parents abuse their kids. What should we tell them? Surely the threat of hell and reward of heaven can't be the only reason to do good? Isn't doing good reason enough?