morality

Thought this was an interesting read...
pg. 226-227
"If there is no God, why be good? Posed like that, the question sounds positively ignoble. When a religious person puts it to me in this way (and many of them do), my immediate temptation is to issue the following challenge: 'Do you really mean to tell me the only reason you try to be good is to gain God's approval and reward, or to avoid his disapproval and punishment? THat'snot morality, that's just sucking up, apple-polishing, looking over your shoulder at the great surveillance camera in the sky, or the still small wiretap inside your head, monitoring your every move, even your every base thought...Do we really need policing - whether by God or by each other - in order to stop us from behaving in a selfish and criminal matter?"

I have always wondered this for myself. Why is it so important for us to care so much for what we will be rewarded for what we do? Can't things just be done for humanity's sake? For the sake of just making this a better place? I would like to quote Emerson on this:

...To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded...

Why can't life just be that? To appreciate life and try to make it a better place for everyone? People become so obsessed with what comes afterwards that they forget to live for the now...

Here was another interesting snip from this chapter...
p.229
"While political party affiliation in the United States is not a perfect indicator of religiousity, it is no secret that the 'red [Republican] states' are primarily red due to the overwhelming political influence of conservative Christians. If there were a strong correlation between Christian conservatism and societal health, we might expect to see some sign of it in red-state America. We don't. Of the twenty-five cities with the lowest rates of violent crime, 62% are in 'blue' [Democratic] states, and 38% are in 'red' [Republican] states. Of the twenty-five most dangerous cities, 76% are in red states, and 24% are in blue states. In fact, 3 of the 5 most dangerious cities in the U.S. are in the pious state of Texas. The twelve staes with the highest rates of burglary are red. Twenty-four of the twenty-nine states with the highest rates of theft are red. Of the twenty-two states with the highest rates of murder, seventeen are red."

So, is religion needed to provide a basis for deciding what is good? "Without religion you have to make it up as you go along. That would be morality without a rule book....the Christian, the Jew, or the Muslim, by contract, can claim that evil has an absolute meaing, true for all time, and in all places." This is what some people pose...but I dont think its true. Would people really stop being the people they are because there is no god watching over them?


"Politics has slain its thousands, but religion has slain its tens of thousands."
~Sean O'Casey