Hi Yuyutsu,

You're right, religion is not the monopoly of those who believe in the supernatural, one can believe in magic and fairies and sorcery without their forming a religion.

But you go a little too far: "To me this seems to be a religious act. Why otherwise try to choose good over evil?"

Agonising over good and evil is not a religious monopoly either. If there are no gods, there is still the world we inescapably (well, almost) live in, which we have to deal with constantly. We have to make judgments whether we like to or not, and - at least from an atheist's point of view - that has nothing to do with religion.

And I suppose from a religious person's view too: so much of the world involves making choices in an everyday way, just as a matter of fact, humdrum sorts of decisions, which even religious people may try to resolve without resorting to prayer or by imploring the involvement of their god. Not every good-or-bad, this-way-or-that decision has to be religious.

I'll probably never become religious - I'm reading Nabeel Kureishi's book on his conversion from Islam to Christianity at the moment - but I hope I never give up trying to distinguish right from wrong, good from bad.

Hey, I suppose that's 'values' !

Cheers,

Joe

Dear Joe,

It seems to me that the reason you will never become religious, is that you already are.

People were eating garlic long before they knew about germs, so they didn't realise that it was a natural antibiotic, nevertheless that garlic killed their germs whether they knew it or not.

Similarly, some people (and animals) tried to do good and avoid evil long before they invented concepts of God, gods, magic, fairies or sorcery. These attempts were religious, long before the word "religion" (or any other word for that matter) was invented.

Yes, you have to make judgements, but why agonise about making good judgements over evil judgements? why not instead make random judgements or pleasant/comfortable judgements? The fact that you do try your best to do good, indicates that you are religious. You can still be an atheist, yet a religious atheist - no problem at all with that.

On the other hand, you have people who profess to believe in God, but apart from holding this intellectual notion in the head, they don't give a damn about treating their fellow-beings as if they were anything less than God. This is inconsistent with religion, so these people are anything but religious.

"I hope I never give up trying to distinguish right from wrong, good from bad" is a Credo, loud and clear at least as the Credo of any established church.

Hi david f, You have a genuine point.

Hi Loudmouth.

I think you have a nice point. respecting each other is one of the most important thing.

I think you have a good point Yuyutsu.

Hi Yuyutsu,

I'll repeat: making decisions about good and bad, right and wrong, is NOT a religious monopoly, nor do those dilemmas have to be religious.

Simple as that.

Joe