And why should we give a hoot about "other conscious beings"?
As an atheist I can tell you from first-hand experience that the liberals I've worked with in homeless shelters and other such places are not helping people purely out of concern for their happiness and suffering. They're doing it for the exact same reason the Christians I worked with did it--because they felt compelled to. But in my first-hand experience, the Christians were happier and more giving in their charitable works; the liberals to a person were angry, spoke harshly of the clients behind their backs, and seemed to be doing the work to fulfill some self-aggrandizing image of themselves as "sacrificing" their lives for others.
When I started in this line of work I braced myself to find the Christians being the wacko-rightwing loons I've been told, and the liberals so compassionate that my conservative political beliefs would come into question. Instead I'm more of a consevative NOW than when I began in this area, and my previous feeling that libs were good people who were just misguided has been replaced with utter contempt for them.
Not saying they're all that way, or that all conservative Christians are saintly. But in my PERSONAL experience, I couldn't find one Christian I've worked with who I felt was selfish or trying to convert me, while the libs to a person were hateful a-holes.
Yes. When someone who calls themselves Christian indulges in bad behavior, one can point to sacred writings and such to point out why they should change. When a secularist indulges in bad behavior, I honestly cannot think of any authoritative reason to give them as to why they ought to behave differently.
I read the author of the articles book The End Of Religion. He is a neuroscientist. He is a good writer and his book was interesting.... But he then looses all control in the end. He gets into meditation as the way to find the true self free from even your conscious brain. He has a religion he just has not named it yet. I also saw him speak on c-span and was appalled not only at him but the audience. He talk was in a Church. There were Methodist Ministers present who laughed and agreed with all he said. They LAUGHED about their really being a God or a Jesus. I almost could not believe what I was seeing. MOCKING of GOD by so called MINISTERS....
What a bigot this guy is. Jainists (and possibly other religions?) do believe they have moral obligations to rocks.
Unbelievable! I'm not sure where to start.
Sammy spends a lot of time castigating Christians for their behavior in Africa. I wonder what Sammy has done for the poor and suffering in Africa? Trashing believers really doesn't put food on their plates or alleviate their suffering.
The writer immediately creates a false argument for morality: that only reason perform acts of charity is to relieve suffering. While Buddhists may well believe this very thing, it is not a Christian concept. There are many other reasons for Christians to perform acts of charity - some corporate and some individual.
His example from the OT is also in error. He is unaware of the New Covenant. Any writer who attempts to critique Christianity in a serious way should at least be acquainted with some of the widely accepted concepts of the faith.