18+ General Discussion Forum

Paperarrows,

I agree with you that a lot of good moral lessons can be gleaned from the Bible and other religious texts. The religious people I admire the most do exactly that.

I can't speak for Audobon, whom you were directly adressing, but to me, saying we can do better than our ancestors in devising a comprehensive moral system isn't saying that we are somehow morally superior to them. In some ways we are probably more enlightened, but all and all, I don't think modern humans have much to feel superior about. To the extent that we have more advanced moral ideas, it's because we have learned from past mistakes, but we still stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. We are indebted to those who sat down and tried to devise a moral system in the first place. My hope is that those who come after us will do an even better job than we have.

A footnote: Writing a good set of rules is one thing. Actually following them is another. We humans have to great an ability to rationalize our actions even when we go against our own rules. Think of how many exceptions we give ourselves to "thou shall not kill."

Marcia



Quote of note: "God bless everyone. No Exceptions." - a bumper sticker