EnviroLink Forum

I think that religion (here meaning the three main monotheisms around today: Christianity, Islam and Judaism) are wrongly human-centred in their ethics, and this has had disastrous effects for ethical discourse, for animals and for the world around us.

I wrote a piece about it here: http://thecategorical.blogspot.co.uk/20 ... igion.html

It would be good to hear what you guys think about it.

Ethics are a human concept. We use them to supply a basis for the regulation of our social interactions. We can, if we want to, apply them to other animals.

Some animals can be part of our complex societies such as pet dogs.

There is no absolute objective ethical basis or other such devinely inspired set of rules to base our rules on. We will just have to mke them up as we go along.

I try to be nice to those around me. And indeed the rest of the world.

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TANG SOO!

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TANG SOO!

I remember the Twilight Zone episode of that name, "Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder". It is natural that what we define as anthropocentric is at the root of religions of humans. It all started with us being good and predators being bad or evil. They killed and ate us. They saw the myriad dots surrounding us in the sky and thought we were at the center of the universe.
Do whales or elephants have a form of religion central to them? Maybe. Rats? More of a self-centeredness---they do commit cannibalism.
Many of us "monotheists" understand the connectedness of all things, that a Creator originated the Big bang and all the laws of science, and such things as music and love. The chances of this being a positive universe or even existing at all is estimated to be 100,000 to 1, and thus the likelihood of an entity or God is apparent mathematically. Many of us have experienced some kind of miracle or God working in our life, and have a close relationship and communication with Him. Certainly not in a way that an atheist could fathom. In AA we call it at first "a power greater than ourselves", then seek God in our own understanding. God is in the mind of the beholder. It is too bad that some of those beholders are kill cultists, and what they behold is delusion. The same could be said of some Bible thumpers, too. Deluded. Stupid, and greedy. Unable or unwilling to look at the consequences of their decisions and actions and uncaring of future humans or other life forms.
I think that we have a loving Creator who wanted us to love Him and live in understanding harmonious sustainability in this biosphere on this planet He created through His Laws. I think He is quite disappointed with most of us because we have overpopulated, depleted, and polluted His gift to us. Some of His creatures also are not too fond of us in general, either (many whales and elephants).
It is too bad that the Yanomami and others who strive for living sustainably, will also get dragged down to destruction by the majority's selfish uncaring pollution and depletion effects in the not too distant future (either circa 36 years from now, or a thousand years later).

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"With every decision, think seven generations ahead of the consequences of your actions" Ute rule of life.
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children”― Chief Seattle
“Those Who Have the Privilege to Know Have the Duty to Act”…Albert Einstein