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Study finds moral equality between religious and nonreligious

stevevw

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Well I do educate myself and I am at college studying my second course in the community services industry. If anything I do a lot of research and anyone that has seen my posts will know I always have good support from a cross section of sites. I take my time in looking up information on the topics and this takes me some time to reply to people. I never said anything about not wanting to learn about science. I dont know where you got that from. I have spent a lot of time in the science/evolution forums and enjoy them a lot. I was replying to someone who said that companies ensure that surveys are accurate by doing all the science so they can ensure they get things right. I just asked then why do some surveys contradict each other if that is the case. That to me is a fair question and one that should be asked as we do hear contradicting results with surveys.

As you have admitted yourself surveys can be subject to many things that can affect the outcomes. It can depend on what questions you ask, how you ask them such as whether you ask a leading question that will cause someone to give you n answer you are wanting. It depends on where you do the surveys as some areas may reflect different demographics. It depends on how you do it. Such as doing it through talk back radio will attract opinionated people which will attract those type of people. So there's many factors that can influence a survey. All I'm doing is questioning this survey which is fair enough. It seems like I am doing something wrong by questioning it.

Why do you think the person started a forum on this survey in the first place. To educate us or to make a statement that non religious people had the same morals as religious ones. Why do you think I am getting so much reaction for just asking the question and challenging the results of this survey. Because the people that support the survey are doing so because they want to use this survey as a way to discredit the morals of Christians. Its not about any fair and unbiased views to educate us. I would have thought if you were truly fair then you would also point that out as well if you want to treat everyone the same.

So the idea is to challenge that view not for everyone to agree. If some disagree with the OP then of course they will give their reasons why. Thats the idea of a debate is to get opposing views. And of course Christians will have something to say about their beliefs that Gods morals ask for us to live apart from secular society. So its only logical that there will be opposing views to this survey. Its not necessarily about bias. If you believe the opposite and you listen to the opposing view and then you still disagree based on what you believe the evidence shows then thats not bias. Thats a fair disagreement based on the facts. Everything doesn't have to be about taking sides like its a us and them thing. Its just a different point of view which is what life is all about. If we all agreed it would be a boring old forum.
 
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stevevw

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"Disagreement" is one thing.

Absolute refusal to see anything other than your own preconceived conclusions is entirely another.
Thats unbelievable. I admitted before that I didn't understand the sample rate with surveys when I was questioning the possible reasons why I thought that survey may have been unreliable. Yet I havnt seen one acknowledgment that you have said anything that was wrong based on your preconceived ideas or assumption in which I know you had. So who is refusing to be one sided and see things only their way again. Its like the pot calling the kettle black. I am not afraid to admit when I am wrong. Thats because its not a competition. But I will also stand up for what I believe and not be intimidated by ridicule or personal remarks which are irrelevant to the debate. You dont know me and nor have you debated me for long. I suggest you get to know what I have discussed and debated first before making assumptions and judgements on me.
 
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bhsmte

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Nothing wrong with you standing up for your beliefs.

There is also nothing wrong, with people questioning your beliefs and asking for you to support them.
 
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Euler

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None of your contributions in this thread have been an honest debate about the survey in question. You have been motivated by nothing more than your preconceived conclusion that the morality of religious people just HAS to be different from the rest of us. You are offended by the suggestion that it may not be, so you pretend to be "open minded" about it all, but you really are simply trying to defend your prejudices. It's grossly dishonest.
 
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Hetta

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I don't think that anyone is trying to discredit the morals of Christians, only to say that Christians don't own the market on morality. I think I put this somewhere else, but I have met deeply immoral Christians and deeply moral non-Christians.
 
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stevevw

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I don't think that anyone is trying to discredit the morals of Christians, only to say that Christians don't own the market on morality. I think I put this somewhere else, but I have met deeply immoral Christians and deeply moral non-Christians.
I agree and even Christ said this with the pharisees and the parable of the good Samaritan. But I think that Christians have different morals than secular society. Religious people can get holier than thou and make out that they are so much better. But this is like a modern day hypocrite and pharisee that was in the bible. But when we accept Jesus into our hearts we are transformed and live according to the spirit of God.

There are the acts of the flesh and there are the fruits of the spirit. The spirit cant live doing immoral things of the flesh and the flesh does not like the things of the spirit. So both are opposed and there should be a difference. Its not a case of a list of good and bad things that should or shouldn't be done. We are not longer slaves to the law and sin but we obey God as our master. So there should be a difference and anything that is immoral should be something that the spirit of God cannot live with or support.

Romans 6.6
6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
Romans 6.15-16
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
 
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stevevw

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You try so hard to be divisive. Your the one that keeps making it an us and them thing with the very things you say. Everything that you are saying about me is the very thing you are doing yourself. That is making a divide between us and pushing it into taking sides.

I agree that I am saying that a Christians morals should be different to what secular society believes. Whether this survey has proved that or was designed to make that assertion I dont know. But I do believe there is a difference in morals between Christians and non Christians. Maybe this survey wasn't about Christians. They havnt defined all this and thats what I was saying. It could be that the religious people they refer to dont really hold any strong beliefs. But certainly when you use words like different from the rest of us you are turning it into an us and them thing. But what I believe is what I believe. I still have an open mind on the subject and will consider what ever further evidence is presented.
 
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Archaeopteryx

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Well its hard to say as I am not sure the types of questions were defining peoples morals or not. As I said before feelings to do with harm or fairness ect are not completely to do with morals.

Of course they are! Research has identified them as fundamental aspects of moral phenomena. That's presumably why this paper specifically selected those constructs. The paper itself highlights this:

Even immoral people can have strong feelings about care and fairness and they may live immoral lives.

You keep missing the point of the prescriptive-descriptive distinction.

Plus how do we know the people doing the survey decided what morals were to begin with in a religious sense.

Research. Not religion, but research.


So what? That's not the point of the study! How many times does this have to be repeated to you? The study didn't examine different views on specific moral issues!

I understand their purpose and I have read the survey.

It doesn't seem like you do.


Not "no difference." See Figure 2, for example. The study did find that individuals differed on fundamental dimensions according to political ideology. As I understand it, these differences have been reported previously. Examining the frequency of moral experiences, the study found:

Again, it's important to bear in mind that the term "morality" is being used in a descriptive sense. Whenever it comes to interpreting the results you seem to forget that point.

Like how, I dont think there's a lot of difference.

No difference between ISIS and the Anglican Church? Seriously? Come on, steve...


Mainstream religion doesn't agree with mainstream religion.

How do you mean. There isn't much you can be specific about. The survey mainly explains a lot of technical info about they ways they measured things.

Which you clearly ignored. Hence your complaint about them using previous research in order to define "moral experience" in terms of harm, fairness, loyalty, liberty, etc.

What and who are they. If you mean some weird sect well tech there are religious cults that do this but we all know they are wrong and taking advantage of something. This has nothing to do with morals.

Of course it does! They don't share your morals. It has everything to do with it!

And this is what I mean but how the survey hasn't really defined what morals are. Whos version have they used.

For the fourth or fifth time, there's a distinction between descriptive and perspective uses of the word "moral."

But I would like to know which religions you are talking about that think porn is OK as a moral as thats news to me.

Someone else has already posted information relevant to this. The fact that you seem wholly unaware of the existence of Christians who don't share your moral outlook is concerning, however.


Again, they selected those constructs from research. What did you expect them to use instead?

I already have the paper in PFD format.

I would recommend reading some of the papers they cited.

At the end of the day I can get surveys that are showing contradictory results and thats why I question it.

No, you can't, because as far as I'm aware this is the only study that has examined these questions using a naturalistic methodology.


For the last time, the study did NOT examine specific moral systems or people's moral views on specific issues! It examined moral phenomena at the level of everyday lived experience using a theoretical framework developed by previous research. No one is claiming that there are "no differences" between people in their moral views on ethically important issues! That's not what this study is about! You have the PDF, you claimed to have read the study, and yet this point continues to allude you.
 
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stevevw

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No you won't. Because a person whose world view is based upon what they "believe" has already closed their mind.

Look at your signature.
Yes and thats what I believe. You can disagree with that. Everyone has some sort of statement on their signature saying what they believe. You are now judging me form one sentence. They say dont judge a book by its cover.

Everyone sees the world through what they believe. If someone believes in evolution then they will see things from a evolutionary point of view. If someone is an atheists the they believe there's no God and that everything is explainable according to the evidence. If someone believes in communism then thats how they will see things and so on. But they can also take other peoples views into consideration. But whats the use of a persons beliefs if they dont live by them and use them. Just because I believe in God doesn't mean I have closed my mind to learning about science ect. I am constantly learning about quantum physics and the universe for example with dark energy which interests me a lot. One of my favorite subjects at the moment is the Egyptian ruins and how they are discovering new ruins by satellite under the surface of the desert. I am studying my second diploma after finishing one in business I am now doing one in case management, counseling and community services. To learn you have to have an open mind.
 
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Euler

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Yes and thats what I believe. You can disagree with that. Everyone has some sort of statement on their signature saying what they believe. You are now judging me form one sentence. They say dont judge a book by its cover.

"By their fruits ye shall know them."

Or have I got that out of "context", when it doesn't suit your purposes, yet again?

Everyone sees the world through what they believe.

Speak for yourself. Those of us that think rationally see the world through evidence and logic.

If someone believes in evolution

People don't "believe" in evolution, in the same way that people like you "believe" in God. They ACCEPT the theory as the best explanation, based upon the evidence that has been presented.

If someone is an atheists the they believe there's no God

Wrong.

Just because I believe in God doesn't mean I have closed my mind to learning about science ect.

No, but your view of what science is meant to do is a warped one.


And part of that "open mind" is the willingness to jettison your current understanding if a better one is presented to you. I'm not sure you would be willing to do that, despite your protestations to the contrary.
 
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stevevw

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"By their fruits ye shall know them."

Or have I got that out of "context", when it doesn't suit your purposes, yet again?
If your talking about the bible then its just like you can tell a tree by its fruits so can you tell a person by the fruits their bear.
Matthew 7:15-16
This is about hypocrites and being able to tell them by the fruits they bear. A thorn bush doesn't bear figs so a bad person will not bear good deeds.
So yes you have got it out of context. This verse is probably more appropriate.
John 7:24
24 Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.”

Speak for yourself. Those of us that think rationally see the world through evidence and logic.
I am not just referring to spiritual beliefs. Everyone believes in something that defines them. Things like justice for all is a belief a person can have. You believe its important to have justice for all. That makes you a person who thinks justice is important for all.

People don't "believe" in evolution, in the same way that people like you "believe" in God. They ACCEPT the theory as the best explanation, based upon the evidence that has been presented.
Of course not but there is an element of faith in some of the things they believe. Some people who dont understand evolution will believe and take the word of a scientists even if they cant verify what was said. It isn't the same depth of faith a religious person will have but it has some similar aspects but will have some assumed evidence to base things on. But because they doont understand themselves what they are believing and can check the evidence to verify it they will be believing things based on someones say so and not check that out.

Well according to wiki
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities.[1][2] In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism#cite_note-RoweRoutledge-3
So though atheists generally say there is no evidence for a God there are some atheists who believe there is no God. They will tell you there is no God. You hear it time and time again on these forums. So that is their belief that there is no God.

Don't you believe there is no God. I think if I checked out what you have said in the past by the way you strongly disagree I would say you have stated that there is no God.

No, but your view of what science is meant to do is a warped one.
Can you explain a statemnet for a change instead of just making unsupported ones all the time. Give me some support for this assertion. Its like I could say your view of things is mentally deranged. So what it doesnt prove anything. Anyone can make unfounded statements.

And part of that "open mind" is the willingness to jettison your current understanding if a better one is presented to you. I'm not sure you would be willing to do that, despite your protestations to the contrary.
Your not sure, I'm surprised you didnt say I definitely wouldnt do that. Thats what you normally assert. So you really think you know me based on what we have said. Thats fair enough everyone's entitled to their opinion. The difference between you and me is that I may think things about you is I dont assume things or make pre judgements on people until I get to know them fairly well. And I class a few conversations on a forum as not very good way to get to know someone completely. If we went around judging people that way we would get in a lot of trouble. Even so even if I did get to know that someone was different to me and had opposing views of beliefs, or culture or lifestyle I wouldn't be holding that against them or putting them down for it. Even though I may feel its wrong and I would still allow that person to hold that position and not treat them any other way that I would treat someone else. This to me is a fundamental right which you seem to not understand.
 
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TheyCallMeDavid

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The study is really quite bogus on several counts ; here are 5 independent Scientific Studies , unbiased, which clearly shows Atheists having lower moral principles as judged by the general populace AS WELL AS by themselves ! :

Here is another Study performed by Barna and Associates : Atheism Doesn't Lead to Immoral Behavior or Poor Ethics - Or Does It?

Heres another scientifric study from USA Today : Study: Atheists distrusted as much as rapists – USATODAY.com

And lastly, another scientific study by a University (google for full report) :

A 2006 study by researchers at the University of
Minnesota involving a poll of 2,000 households in
the United States found atheists to be the most
distrusted of minorities, more so than Muslims,
recent immigrants, gays and lesbians, and other
groups. Many of the respondents associated
atheism with immorality, including criminal behavior.

Further, the American Culture unmistakably shows the effects of popular Secular Humanism being played out as a direct result of its formal affirmations ; this current CF Formal Debate exposes the poison behind Secular Humanism that our Culture has completely swallowed hook line and devastating sinker : .
 
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FireDragon76

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The only poison I see being peddled here is from someone trying to justify prejudice with pseudoscience.

Discussing moral integrity by limiting it to whether a person drinks excessively or views porn trivializes the meaning of moral behavior. Non-Christians have legitimate reasons to question the moral integrity of Christians- for many, it doesn't seem to be transformative, just an excuse at self-righteousness.
 
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Eudaimonist

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The study is really quite bogus on several counts

Which counts? Do you have a problem with their methodology? Has there been a problem with peer review?

Don't just cite other studies. The existence of other studies doesn't make this one "bogus".

here are 5 independent Scientific Studies , unbiased, which clearly shows Atheists having lower moral principles as judged by the general populace AS WELL AS by themselves ! :

It doesn't matter what the general populace thinks about atheists. The general populace -- even atheists -- can be prejudiced against atheists for any number of reasons.


eudaimonia,

Mark
 
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Hetta

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Unbiased? Are you for real?

Also, because people don't trust a certain group, that doesn't make them immoral. It just means that the survey group was biased.

Bottom line: a lot of people are very, very stupid.
 
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