Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

A Note to Conservatives Who Are Secular
Townhall.com ^ | April 5, 2016 | Dennis Prager

Posted on 04/05/2016 7:51:13 AM PDT by Kaslin

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-116 next last
To: doldrumsforgop

Yep, abandoning social conservative principles creates a void that can only be filled with Big Government. Case in point, the breakup of the traditional family.


41 posted on 04/05/2016 9:23:59 AM PDT by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: CapitalistCrusader

Well because its a definition that has been unchanging since before the printing press. You attempted but failed a boot strap/circular logical fallacy. I.e tried to use a Secular modern definition of Morality to define Morality as secular. Problem is Morals have a historical definition long preceding the false concept of secular morals (sic) (oxymoronic term).


42 posted on 04/05/2016 9:24:07 AM PDT by Mechanicos (Attend a Trump Rally and get to "Punch a Commie for Mommy.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: Mechanicos
I made no such attempt. I just wanted to start with a definition so that we can proceed from a common understanding.

How do you define morality?

43 posted on 04/05/2016 9:26:47 AM PDT by CapitalistCrusader
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: CapitalistCrusader

What other type of philosophy is reality based?

And some people seem to get angry when moral frameworks are discussed outside of religion or God. They tend to assume their personal moral system is the same that is shared by everyone and is totally self evident and better than the moral basis of religion or God.


44 posted on 04/05/2016 9:33:31 AM PDT by wbarmy (I chose to be a sheepdog once I saw what happens to the sheep.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

George Will is not a God believer

Does Praeger know this?

Praeger was raised religious but does he practice Judaism

He’s virulently anti Trump which is why he wrote this

Funny

We were Godly till Trump came along

Coulda fooled me

And both Kraut and Will....Jew and Christian born are not practicing today

What a thin screed


45 posted on 04/05/2016 9:34:17 AM PDT by wardaddy (is Cruz last name a coincidence or a blessing or is he the anti Christ)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Yes

I know

I should have read further

Slap me


46 posted on 04/05/2016 9:35:15 AM PDT by wardaddy (is Cruz last name a coincidence or a blessing or is he the anti Christ)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wbarmy
What other type of philosophy is reality based?

Objectivism is an atheistic philosophy that is reality based.

And some people seem to get angry when moral frameworks are discussed outside of religion or God.

I am not angry. I'm just trying to have a rational conversation about morality.

47 posted on 04/05/2016 9:36:10 AM PDT by CapitalistCrusader
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: CapitalistCrusader

CapitalistCrusader asked:

“How do you define morality?”

The Bible teaches moral absolutism in spirit, if not in specifics. We are to look to God’s Word, not our own judgment, to know what right and wrong behavior looks like. Because God’s creation reflects His character, it’s inevitable that men seeking wisdom would occasionally stumble upon His truths.

God has placed in our hearts a standard of right and wrong that, if followed, would result in our being blessed (Romans 2:14–15). But our fallen nature and bent to sin cloud our conscience. Therefore, the Bible admonishes us to ask God for wisdom (James 1:5). Psalm 119:59 says, “I considered my ways and turned my feet to Your testimonies.” Consideration of human nature shows us our inability and our need for God: “If Your law had not been my delight, then I would have perished in my affliction” (Psalm 119:92).

God has set in place certain standards, and it is sin to break those standards. Psalm 24:1 testifies to God’s authority: “The earth is the LORD’s, and all it contains; the world, and those who dwell in it.” He set the absolutes of our morality in His Word: “You shall therefore obey the LORD your God, and do His commandments and His statutes which I command you today” (Deuteronomy 27:10). The divine command theory of moral absolutism comes the closest to what the Bible teaches.

Discussing the philosophy of ethics from a secular, humanistic viewpoint is an interesting intellectual exercise, but the simple fact is that fallen man cannot discover truth and goodness without God. As in Abraham’s case, there is only one way that we can be moral: “Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6).


48 posted on 04/05/2016 9:37:41 AM PDT by Mechanicos (Attend a Trump Rally and get to "Punch a Commie for Mommy.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: CapitalistCrusader

“Morality does not require belief in God.”

Then what would be the point of being moral? Without the authority of God, morals do not exist.


49 posted on 04/05/2016 9:39:32 AM PDT by Flavious_Maximus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Mechanicos
You are assuming the conclusion. You state that we cannot have morality without God because God has told us that we cannot.

At this point I think we are at an impasse. How can we proceed?

50 posted on 04/05/2016 9:41:44 AM PDT by CapitalistCrusader
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: CapitalistCrusader

I admit that they claim to follow the same God, but see my comment about religion.


51 posted on 04/05/2016 9:42:20 AM PDT by dangerdoc ((this space for rent))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: Flavious_Maximus
Then what would be the point of being moral? Without the authority of God, morals do not exist.

This assumes the conclusion.

The point of morality is for people to live a full and just life.

52 posted on 04/05/2016 9:43:06 AM PDT by CapitalistCrusader
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: CapitalistCrusader

When one is trying to sell subjective morality there is no path forward. I have stated the answer to your question. Its Clear. You may not like it but its a truth that will not change.


53 posted on 04/05/2016 9:45:36 AM PDT by Mechanicos (Attend a Trump Rally and get to "Punch a Commie for Mommy.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: untenured; stephenjohnbanker
I haven't thought about it in awhile. Probably anyone associated with Chronicles magazine

Paul Gottfried, Pat Buchanan, Clyde Wilson. A lot of the good writers are no longer with us. Mel Bradford. Robert Nisbet. James Burnham. Sam Francis. Basically people before the invasion of the neocon bodysnatchers.

54 posted on 04/05/2016 9:47:46 AM PDT by Pelham (A refusal to deport is defacto amnesty)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Mechanicos
When one is trying to sell subjective morality there is no path forward.

I'm not trying sell anything. And the morality to which I'm referring is objective not subjective. It is based on two simple, self-evident truths. That the universe exists and I exist within it. What is subjective about that?

55 posted on 04/05/2016 9:50:41 AM PDT by CapitalistCrusader
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]

To: doldrumsforgop
I'm not sure if you really understood the title?

Simple Definition of secular

: not spiritual : of or relating to the physical world and not the spiritual world

: not religious

: of, relating to, or controlled by the government rather than by the church

56 posted on 04/05/2016 9:51:10 AM PDT by Kaslin (He needed theThe l ignorant to reelect him. He got them and now we have to pay the consequences)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: CapitalistCrusader

“Morality does not require belief in God.”

But objective morality (which I assume you are talking about since you capitalized “Morality”) strongly presupposes an objective moral law-giver.

That is unless you reason that life on Earth, through random natural selection, coincidentally evolved into a sentient creature who can also coincidentally come to know this objective moral reality.

It’s almost like saying that Gravity does not require a belief in Matter. It may not require it in a strict logical sense, but it certainly makes the explanation of it more reasonable.


57 posted on 04/05/2016 9:53:23 AM PDT by Bishop_Malachi (Liberal Socialism - A philosophy which advocates spreading a low standard of living equally.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: CapitalistCrusader

“So the Muslim morality, which is based on belief in the same god as Judeo-Christian morality, is justified?”

Well not to be harsh but I can see that you know precious little about the subject. Islam isn’t based on the Judeo-Christian God or its morality. Islam borrows names from the Bible but that’s all.


58 posted on 04/05/2016 9:54:12 AM PDT by Pelham (A refusal to deport is defacto amnesty)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: Bishop_Malachi

Why does morality presuppose a law-giver?


59 posted on 04/05/2016 9:54:54 AM PDT by CapitalistCrusader
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 57 | View Replies]

To: Pelham

I beg to differ. Islam is based on the same “God of Abraham” as Judaism and Christianity.


60 posted on 04/05/2016 9:56:02 AM PDT by CapitalistCrusader
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-116 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson