It doesn't matter what religion I follow...

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And if there is a God and / or creator, what difference would that make?

Our time here on this little planet will pass in a breath in cosmic terms, no one will notice let alone care.
Surely that doesn't change just because there is a God?

Perhaps there is no one to notice or to care. I prefer to believe there is.
I find it interesting how many theists essentially choose their beliefs based on their desires not on the evidence. This at least partly explains why they often insist that atheist choose not to believe and sometimes even insist that atheist choose not to believe because they desire a world with no God.

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Yes, i agree with that.

Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
Maybe it does and maybe it doesn't. The point is, that doesn't matter. The thing that matters is how I actually treat others, etc.

Keep saying it enough times and maybe it will come true.

Your comment seems to imply you believe that you have a higher being to answer to down the road. After all, if there is no higher being to answer to then what does being "good" do for you exactly? Who cares, just so long as you stay out of prison?

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Dissection it may or may not be, but the distinction is important to me.

Let's think specifically on how a religion would incite wrong doing. It seems it would have to start with some sort of malicious idea placed in the followers' minds. Where did this idea come from? Likely from an influential person in the religion who had a specific malicious intent towards certain other people. From a person who uses their influence for their own selfish ends.

Without the actual malicious intent, the religion would not have incited mistreatment of others.

I guess it comes down to this: when we deem a religion 'harmful', don't we do so primarily because of the bad actions stemming from it? If it was merely a bunch of people ranting insanely inside a building, but not carrying the craziness outside that building, would we even care much?

Originally posted by whodey
Keep saying it enough times and maybe it will come true.

Your comment seems to imply you believe that you have a higher being to answer to down the road. After all, if there is no higher being to answer to then what does being "good" do for you exactly? Who cares, just so long as you stay out of prison?

I don't believe I'll be answering to a higher power down the road.

Being good does many things for me. If I treat people well, they tend to respond in kind. When everyone in society agrees to do this, that society is more peaceful, and happier.

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The OP, yes, the thread title, no.
It does matter what religion you follow as religions have a significant influence on their followers both positive and negative and different depending on circumstances. Being a member of a minority religion usually sucks.

Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
Without the actual malicious intent, the religion would not have incited mistreatment of others.

I disagree. There is a lot that goes into religious belief and the behaviour of the religious that has to to with human behaviour that can lead to harmful behaviour without ever there being deliberate malicious intent.

Usually the biggest downside of religion is the group dynamic that it creates. It encourages groups to form and that alone is enough to trigger mistreatment of others even though there was nobody with malicious intent that said 'let me make my religion encourage group formation so that people will suffer!'

Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
Dissection it may or may not be, but the distinction is important to me.

Let's think specifically on how a religion would incite wrong doing. It seems it would have to start with some sort of malicious idea placed in the followers' minds. Where did this idea come from? Likely from an influential person in the religion who had a specific malicious i ...[text shortened]... nside a building, but not carrying the craziness outside that building, would we even care much?

I'm wondering what you mean by "matters"? It's not clear to me what your argument is, whether you are talking at the metaphysical level or at some level of practical ethics. At a practical level I think it is difficult to establish a universal set of ethical principles, which you need for your claim to make any sense.

If you're talking at a metaphysical level then there are two basic possibilities. If there is no God then there is no fundamental "matters" and the problem is one of practical ethics. If there is a God then what "matters" depends on the nature of God. So you seem to be making a claim that we can make inferences about the nature of God. How do you know that the religion that incited its followers to what you are calling wrongdoing weren't doing the right thing in the eyes of God?

So you seem to be claiming that universal ethical principles exist with or without God, which implies a restriction on the nature of God.

Originally posted by DeepThought
If there is no God then there is no fundamental "matters" and the problem is one of practical ethics. If there is a God then what "matters" depends on the nature of God.

I think you first need to establish that the existence of God somehow produces fundamental 'matters'. I say it doesn't. Why does what 'matters' depend on the nature of God? That is merely what matters to God and is no more fundamental than what matters to me.

Originally posted by BigDoggProblem
I don't believe I'll be answering to a higher power down the road.

Being good does many things for me. If I treat people well, they tend to respond in kind. When everyone in society agrees to do this, that society is more peaceful, and happier.

True. So as long as you don't suffer the consequences of someones anger everything is peaches and cream

Got it!

Originally posted by twhitehead
I think you first need to establish that the existence of God somehow produces fundamental 'matters'. I say it doesn't. Why does what 'matters' depend on the nature of God? That is merely what matters to God and is no more fundamental than what matters to me.

I think that that's pretty much part of what being God means. Besides, I can just invoke the practical problem of establishing a universal code of ethics in the absence of an absolute authority if there isn't one.

Originally posted by whodey
True. So as long as you don't suffer the consequences of someones anger everything is peaches and cream

Got it!

It's not just about avoiding negative consequences. I enjoy the rewards of a peaceful society, and I would deprive myself of those rewards by embracing evil, even if I got away with it.

Originally posted by twhitehead
I disagree. There is a lot that goes into religious belief and the behaviour of the religious that has to to with human behaviour that can lead to harmful behaviour without ever there being deliberate malicious intent.

Usually the biggest downside of religion is the group dynamic that it creates. It encourages groups to form and that alone is enough to ...[text shortened]... intent that said 'let me make my religion encourage group formation so that people will suffer!'

You might have a point there. Would you provide an example of how a group could mistreat people without malicious intent?

Originally posted by DeepThought
I think that that's pretty much part of what being God means.

I disagree.

Besides, I can just invoke the practical problem of establishing a universal code of ethics in the absence of an absolute authority if there isn't one.
And I can equally invoke the practical problem of establishing a universal code of ethics in the presence of an absolute authority.

Authorities, whether absolute or not, only establish codes of ethics as far as they can enforce them on others. But enforced or not, it doesn't affect my code of ethics which happens to be just as good as the code of ethics of some absolute authority (and may be in conflict with it).
God says doing A is wrong and doing B is right. I say doing B is wrong and dong A is right. It doesn't matter how absolute his authority, it won't make him more righter than me.

As with 90% of theology, all you are doing is hiding the problem from yourself, not solving it.