Ethics and Morality

A collection of 146 posts

empathy

Human Brains Are Hardwired for Empathy, Friendship

Science Daily: Aug. 22, 2013 — Perhaps one of the most defining features of humanity is our capacity for empathy -- the ability to put ourselves in others' shoes. A new University of Virginia study strongly suggests that we are hardwired to empathize because we closely associate people who are

art

Awesome "Sin" artwork - check this out!

So, like Ed at Incredulous, I was pretty wowed by this piece of artwork by a poster on the subreddit CreativeAtheists which I spoke about before (created by one of our own SINners). It is by a person called Moultano.   The artist posted this comment to explain the text on

Catholic sex abuse scandal

Los Angeles Catholic church files show decades of sexual abuse

As I am on holiday, I have scheduled a number of easy news repost for your delectation. From the Guardian: Court-ordered release of documents reveal what Catholic orders knew of sexual abuse by priests, brothers and nuns In therapy sessions, the priest confessed to shocking details he'd kept h

Church

Church of England vs Wonga.com - genius satire

Those of you across the pond may not have heard about the Church of England's broadside against the seedy world of payday loans. More 'reputable' companies have sprung up offering ridiculously high interest and low security loans to desperate people in need. The whole business is spurious and morall

Church

What religion has contributed to the world this month - May/June

http://youtu.be/ctWj-OV4cI0

BBC

God on Trial

Some think it could be urban legend, but we do think that this actually happened in Auschwitz concentration camp during the Second World War. The Jews, holding a covenant, a legally binding agreement if you will, with God, decide that God has broken the covenant. After all, how can bad things happen

Church

How to polish a shaft

Sweet bejesus, this is the weirdest, craziest shit I have ever seen. The Church of England congregations would have coronaries in their pews! Only in America... "Jack Schaap, the former pastor of one of America's biggest mega-churches, was sentenced yesterday for seducing a young parishioner by telling

catholicism

Cardinal: Abortion is bigger sin than priest abuse

George Pell says, “I have always been on the side of the victims.” But the archbishop of Sydney has a funny way of expressing his support. During an inquiry this week into what the Herald Sun describes as “rampant” child sexual abuse by priests going back decades, Pell admitted, “We’ve been slow

Problem of Evil

Oklahoma Tornado - God is Love. Er, hmmm. Actually, no.

This is an excellent piece from a blog I came across through a post on facebook (H/T Sergio Paulo Sider, I think). I am copying it here, but if the author doesn't like me doing so, I'll simply link it - let me know! Anywho,

apologetics

An index of why William Lane Craig is a dishonest genocide-defending creepy homophobe

Chris Hallquist's blog The Incredible Halq is the first reputable blog that I have seen which has so seriously gone to town on apologist William Lane Craig. Check it out here. I mean proper gone to town. I advise anyone with a passing knowledge in WLC to check

catholicism

Conscientious objection to abortion: Catholic midwives win appeal

The article below is from the UK Human Rights Blog. There is an interesting development in allowing subgroups of a society to exempt themselves from national laws or requirements. Then again, is there a sense that there is an analogy here between this and the rights of someone with dietary requireme

morality

Why are religion and violence now so closely linked?

Andrew Brown in the Guardian: The settled world order is secular, and fanaticism thrives when people feel alienated and threatened for their beliefs. It's a commonplace that wars and religions are closely associated. Since about 1945 there has been an increasing tendency for wars to be fought

creation

The Problem of evil and creating evil sentient beings

So Christians dismiss the Problem of Evil, at times, using spurious logic and dodgy grasps of causality. JohnM, regular Creationist commenter here, does this alot.

consequentialism

Counter-apologetics segment on God being a consequentialist

Here is another counter-apologetics segment on the Skepticule podcast. My segment starts at 53.30. This one is on the idea that God is a consequentialist. Check it out here.

Biblical Exegesis

Christians, watch this and then tell me your God underwrites morality...

WARNING. Watch this video will disturb you. It is horrific. But I ask that you do so, Christian, Muslim, atheist or other. You will never watch it again, and it will scar you. But remember, this activity was divinely decreed by an all-loving God. Yes, all-loving. And for what? For all of the actions

Church

"Kicked upstairs" and killing the fight against poverty - Vatican for "punishment for paedophiles"...

Beth, over at SIN's Incongruous Elements, recently posted on the Vatican approach to sex abuse (that being cover it up or sweep it under the carpet): Fifteen years before the clergy sex abuse scandal came to light, Archbishop Roger M. Mahony and a top advisor plotted to conceal child molestation

atheism

God is a consequentialist

So here is an essay that I wrote earlier this year. I am posting it to see what you think, but also because I am writing a post on a connected idea based on a  paper by Stephen Maitzen on how morality presupposes atheism. Fascinating stuff. Anyway, comments below please.

morality

Does Morality Depend on God?

This is one of my favourite essays on the subject of morality and God. It is by P. Wesley Edwards and can be found variously online, such as here. JohnM was espousing the idea in his comments here that under an atheistic worldview, there is no moral foundation. Moreover, as the argument goes, only G

Deep Dive

On the kindness of an atheist

Recently, in a post on evolution, reviewing the book "Your Inner Fish" by Neil Shubin, there was some talk about what the best book to get out of Shubin's, Jerry Coyne's "Why Evolution is True" and Prothero's "Evolution: What

Biblical Exegesis

Yahweh's Amazing Test - Another Nonstampcollector classic

The genius who is Nonstampcollector hits home with another piece of insightful mastery.

Aristotle

The Experience Machine: Would You Live In A Utopian Virtual Reality?

Is it better to live a life plugged into a machine which gives you some kind of utopia (think benign Matrix) than to live a life of ‘reality’ with all the misery, pain and suffering, as well as happiness, joy and success? If this virtual reality gave us a life