appropriating morality | how 'the Judeo-Christian tradition' takes false credit [cc]

Some thoughts about the tendency of religious groups to claim intellectual ownership of morality.
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opening quote:
Believers in religion teach us that God will reward men for good actions, but men who are intellectually free, know that the reward of a good action cannot be given by any power, but that it is the natural result of the good action.
The free man, guided by intelligence, knows that his reward is in the nature of things, and not in the caprice even of the Infinite. He is not a good and faithful servant, he is an intelligent free man.
—Robert G. Ingersoll
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subtitles
Arabic: TranquilOblivion
Bulgarian: Djeitko
Portuguese [Brazilian]: Débora T. F. Silveira
Spanish: Martin Gonzalez
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Correction: at 6:54, Matthew passage should read 5:38 instead of 5:43. Thanks to TranquilOblivion for picking up on that.
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Animal studies
Frans De Waal talk/articles:
Proctor, D., Williamson, R.A., de Waal, F.B.M. and Brosnan, S.F. (2013) Chimpanzees play the ultimatum game. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 110 (6)
Proctor, D., Brosnan, S.F. and de Waal, F.B.M. (2013) How fairly do chimpanzees play the ultimatum game? Communicative & Integrative Biology 6 (3)
see also:
Vulcan and Virgil, the sharing capuchins:
chimpanzees conflict and resolution
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Berkovits, E. (1975) Judaism in the Post-Christian Era. in Talmage, F.E. (Ed.), Disputation and Dialogue: Readings in the Jewish Christian Encounter. Ktav, New York.
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Gill, J. (1746-63) Exposition of the Entire Bible.
Psalm 137:9: ‘Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones. That takes the infants from their mothers' breasts, or out of their arms, and dashes out their brains against a "rock", as the word (k) signifies; which, though it may seem a piece of cruelty, was but a just retaliation; the Babylonians having done the same to the Jewish children, and is foretold elsewhere should be done to theirs, Isaiah 13:16. Nor is this desired from a spirit of revenge, but for the glory of divine justice, and that such a generation of cruel creatures might be rooted out of the earth; see Revelation 2:2. Some allegorically understand this of crushing and mortifying the first motions of sin in the heart; but such a sense seems to have no place here.
(k) "ad petram", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, &c. "ad repem", Cocceius.’
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Hobson, T. (2017) God Created Humanism: The Christian basis of secular values. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London.
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Paine, T. (1794-1807) The Age of Reason
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Jewish biblical passages:
Vayikra 21
Vayikra 24
Vayikra 25
Bamidbar 31
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music © theramintrees:
Excerpt from Beethoven's seventh symphony, second movement.
Full original music tracks used in videos are available to patreon supporters who pledge at the $1 per video level.

[Sknabc]

Another great video. I hate hearing theists ask me if I'm an atheist, why don't I go out and kill and steal and cheat. I always respond with, "All I hear you saying is that if you're religion didn't tell you not to do those things, that's exactly what you'd be doing."

I don't murder and steal because it's wrong to do to somebody, not because I'm instructed not to.

[jayg]

We evolved in a manner which made cooperation and altruism beneficial to the survival of our species. Morality is a genetic imperative. Of course, there is always variant, it is not written on our hearts. Religion co-opted morality and then claims to be its origin.

[FrancisRoyCA]

Has anyone ever given you the feedback that your verbal pacing is excellent?

[jpfrssnv]

OH no! another guy that actually read the Bible....

[LimeyLassen]

I think the problem with an ultimate theory of morality is that we aren't ultimate beings. Humans exist at a particular scale in space, time, and importance. At that scale, morality and meaning make sense. Elsewhere, not so much. Just because we aren't cosmically, vitally important cogs in a grand machine doesn't mean life has no meaning or that virtue is a chemical illusion. That's a poorly calibrated perspective.

[ericspencer]

My religious brother use to argue that Ancient Rome and Egypt fell (he termed it 'destroyed, ') because they were intrinsically immoral... until I pointed out that Rome lasted 1200 years, Egypt 2000 years, and Ancient Israel.... 418 years.

[positivistnullifidian]

“Secular humanism doesn’t have to account for life’s ‘meaning’ or ‘purpose.’”
I could not agree more! Life’s ‘meaning’ or ‘purpose’ is what we as individuals internalize, and can never be externally imposed. It is arrogant to presume that the ‘meaning’ and ‘purpose’ one may embrace for their life, not only can, but must be applied to the lives of others. But this is the attitude of religion. Peace.

[fathybalamita]

I was taught that islam is the source of modern secular morality. Lucky for me, studying islam showed me the hard truth. Thanks for the great post.

[_the_watcher_]

I had a close moral dilemma last week, my man slave was Messing around when he should have been working harder since he had time to play. So I got mad and beat him with an iron rod, my neighbor saw me & called the cops they said I killed him. I did get arrested & my slave was sent to the hospital, but luckily on the 2nd day he woke up and was ok. so all charges was dropped against me, the judge explained by law it was ok to beat him and knock him out for up to two days as long as I don’t kill him.

[toewoe]

Watching your videos makes me realize how fortunate I was. My parents didn't raise me to be any particular thing, but were happy to take me to a place of worship if I wanted to see what it was like and learn. They always answered any question I asked regardless of my age. When I was 8 I had heard the word prostitute but did not know what it meant, I asked my dad, and instead of saying he would tell me when I was older, he chuckled out of how out of the blue the question was and then just told me. The only lies about belief were Santa and the Easter bunny but I figured those out young. My parents read books to me and never kept me from hearing anything scary, obscene, or confusing. The only thing censored to me was when a show had a sex scene and my mom would tell me to close my eyes. I had catholic friends, orthodox friends, Mormon friends, even Hindu friends but never did any of those views make an ounce of sense to me. My mother was raised orthodox, and my father catholic, but they both fell out of those religions when they moved out and never pushed anything onto me, nor my sister, who actually tried church and just couldn't find any value in it. I was raised to just be kind to people without expecting any form of reward, no underlying message that a God wanted me to do it. I now try to think of everything all the way through. I think about why I'm kind to people, it's because making people feel undeserved negative emotions makes me feel disgusting because I made somebody's life objectively worse, although marginally. I credit my ability to think freely to my parents who never limited my thinking in any way. On political ideas they would do their best to describe both sides of the arguments to me, doing their best to leave out their feelings. I have good parents.

[ogsamuraijack]

Your channel is criminally underrated. I really love what you are doing here. Much love

[margaretjohnson]

thank you for bringing up animal studies showing morality is not simply human and not based on religion. i had arguments with a man who has a MA in psychology who simply refused to accept the observations of researchers showing animals having moral bases.
yes, he's a born again catholic. bizarre. i left that church never to return when i was 19.

[geoffcole]

Can I just say as someone who was also raised Christian but eventually found myself befuddled by the ignorance and immorality I kept running into, your videos are a long drink of crystal clear water after a week in a desert. I love listening to folks like Hitchens and Harris, but your videos literally spell out my own train of thought so closely sometimes I wonder if I've holographically projected you and we're all in the Matrix. Fortunately the 2nd and 3rd movies prove that's impossible.

But seriously, great channel. I may even send a link towards my deeply religious mother.

[anthonypc]

Always wondered why, in his sermon on the mount in Matthew 5, Jesus INSISTS that we must NOT think he's come to change the slightest word of the old Jewish law of Moses and the Pharisees, and Jesus threatens that any man "who sets aside ONE off the LEAST of the old commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven"...
And then a few lines later in the same speech the guy says 6:51 "You've heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you...."
UM Excuse me Jesus, that sounds like you ARE changing more than a jot or tittle... you wanna be thrown in the river of fire too Mr. Cheesus ? hhmm?

[Liphted]

Yo this is the weirdest channel ever, stylistically, but it's also my favorite channel on YouTube. I probably love it so much because it's so stylistically different.

[ColonelDz]

25:10 Graphic scene of a Christian cross penetrating a David star. Viewer discretion is advised.

[devonisboss]

Listen, IDK if you'll ever see this, but i wanted to tell you that your "departure from theism" video honestly helped me a lot. Thank you so much.

[HassanRadwan]

Your videos should be shown in schools & colleges all over the world.

[nikdoesstuff]

Reminds me of a fight I had with my dad because he claimed judeo-Christian values ended slavery in the US
That still remains one of the biggest load of bs I've ever heard

[slightlytwistedagain]

*The crucifixion story amounts to nothing more than a divine flirtation of sadomasochism*

Hahahahahaha holy shit that's good.