[templar]

After all, as we all know, most of the Christian Clergy THEMSELVES don't know half of how bloody and evil parts of the Bible are.

I find statements such as this, by those professing that there is no God or that God is unknowable, to be amusing. Wonder how they derive a moral foundation to use the word "evil" without belief in a higher authority than man, an ultimate authority. Without that authority, the word 'evil' simply becomes a matter of personal choice: the "what's right or wrong for you may not be what's right or wrong for me" thing. And no one can actually claim that his view of what constitutes "evil" is any more or less valid than any other view of what constitutes "evil".

[G. Stolyarov II]

You think that morality can only be instituted by a superior authority, imposed with a vehement force on us inferior insects by an all-mighty omnipotent super-overlord that is somehow omniscient yet allows for our free will. Yet Religion and Morality are not one and the same (though religions put forth their own [flawed] versions of morality) and morality does not need to be some arbitrary external dictum. Morality, according to Rand, is derived from OBJECTIVE CONSIDERATIONS OF THE EXTERNAL REALITY, the absolute requirements of man's survival, which recommend that he use his OWN mind, NOT that of a superior authority (for no such being demonstrably exists) as the mechanism for evaluating right or wrong in relation to his only proper core aim, individual life (in all of its facets: survival, prosperity, and transformation of the natural status quo to suit one's desires).

"The moral is the chosen. Morality ends where a gun begins." ~ Ayn Rand

May I also add that morality ends where threats of "eternal damnation" in the case of disobedience begin?