Exactly.
There are only two religions when they’re boiled down to their essence:
[1] Those who believe that man is _basically good_ (innocent), even though he sometimes makes mistakes.
[2] Those who believe that man is _NOT basically good_ (innocent), even though he is capable of doing good in varying degrees.
Everyone, including the so-called atheist, falls into one of these two religions.
“Whenever I meet someone who claims to find faith in God impossible, but who persists in believing in the essential goodness of humanity, I know that I have met a person for whom evidence is irrelevant.” ~ Dennis Prager ( Ultimate Issues , July- September, 1989)
“Whenever I meet someone who claims to find faith in God impossible, but who persists in believing in the essential goodness of humanity, I know that I have met a person for whom evidence is irrelevant.”
Was just “discussing” with someone yesterday, on FR, that fits this to a “T”.
[1] Those who believe that man is _basically good_ (innocent), even though he sometimes makes mistakes.
[2] Those who believe that man is _NOT basically good_ (innocent), even though he is capable of doing good in varying degrees.
I don't see where Islam fits into either. It proscribes men to do evil while calling it good.
I have heard a third “religion” espoused, one that was the assumption of the founders of the United States. Not that man was good or bad, just that man is weak.
Throughout our constitution, this idea is reflected in the subdivision of power, the difficulty of creating new laws, and a clear list of rights the government shall leave alone, as they are natural, not given or taken away by government.
They knew that the constitution was not perfect, that it was written by imperfect men, not by heaven, and would need to be changed by imperfect men for changing times. They knew that there were good men and that there were bad men, but the vast majority are between the two.
Left to our own devices, most men are seldom bad. But when tempted, it is all too easy for the vast majority to become corrupted. But this as well is not a permanent state of being, except for the truly evil few.
Even abhorrent practices like slavery were rationalized as taking people from a truly evil state in Africa, and redeeming them with some education and religion. Alcohol prohibition was a foolish effort to make weak men good (possibly the war on drugs as well).
A standing army was hated and feared until WWII, because it might be used against the people by a weak willed tyrant. And isolationism was seen as protecting America from the iniquity found in the rest of the world.
Bad men, like Bill Clinton, have long proclaimed their goodness, yet can only be seen through the lens of weakness. Good men who likewise truly wanted to be good, have been so pressured by the expectations of goodness that they become corrupt, like Jimmy Swaggart. Likewise, to be seen through the lens of weakness.