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I God necessary to live a moral life?
In a continuation of my previous post about the practical application of morality, I'll again use the example of traffic laws.
When you drive down the street and come to a red light, why do you stop? Do you stop at the light because you are afraid the police will catch you and give you a ticket? Or, do you stop because of the obvious and practical danger of getting into a wreck? What would you do if the police disappeared and no one was enforcing traffic laws anymore? Would you drive any differently?
If it could be proved that God didn't exist, how would that change the way you live? Would you give up any pretense of morality and become an asshole to everybody? Would you become a murderer and thief without the constant oversight of God to keep you in line?
Everyone knows the old golden rule, " Do unto others the way you would have them do unto you ". That isn't just a spiritual way of living it's also a logical way. The golden rule works and is applicable to day to day life.
Real morality is logical. Real morality is a winning and practical strategy for living. It's more advantageous to get along and cooperate with others than to screw others and make enemies.

nipoleon 5 Aug 29
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Machiavelli might disagree with you. You can be an asshole and still not believe in religion. Moral or immoral, religion is unnecessary.

lerlo Level 8 Aug 30, 2018
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I presume most if not all of the people here already disbelieve the existence of god. We are already moral and law abiding, so if there was incontrovertible proof that he didn’t exist it would change nothing. We obey the law because without laws, we would have chaos and anarchy. They are man made and have nothing whatsoever to do with an imaginary god. As far as traffic laws are concerned, have you ever seen the mayhem on the streets whenever the traffic lights are not working? It is just common sense to wait for the green light and nothing to do with being arrested if the police weren’t around. So no , there most certainly would be more crime without police, but the traffic analogy is not a good one. There will always be a criminal class, there is now when we do have police, it doesn’t stop them offending, nor does a belief in god, People are either law abiding or not, moral or not...God and the police force don’t influence their actions, we are the only ones who decide how we act.

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Real morality is knowing from common sense that you should not be poking others in the eye with a sharp stick.

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think sometimes religious people don't think about real morality but more to religious morality. Hence LGBTQ and atheist bias.

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I don't think many here would disagree. & I would have a lot more respect for the person who did the right thing just because it was the right thing, than someone who did it to avoid being sent to hell.

Carin Level 8 Aug 29, 2018
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