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The first commandments enforce worship of Yahweh (have no other gods, make no graven image; don't take God's name in vain, remember the Sabbath). Why does God make worship of himself a priority? Remember the context: the Commandments were given to the Jews after they had been tempted to worship Yahweh's sibling, Ba'al. These preliminary instructions are the equivalent of martial law. "I have defeated my fellow God; you are my prize. Now you must bow down to me." The first four commandments reflect the fact that in God's moral code the priority is not human welfare but human worship. Indeed, human welfare is low on his priorities, as he himself points out: "I am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of their parents to the third and fourth generation of those who reject me." (Deuteronomy 5:9) In other words, not only sinners, but even the most virtuous people may suffer God's wrath. The remaining commandments are a mixed bag. Honour your parents (irrespective of their actions); do not kill (but, as we will discover, this commandment is often ignored); do not commit adultery (but pre-marital sex is acceptable); do not steal; do not lie; and reject envy (but there are no problems with greed, sloth, anger and pride). 6.2c The Pentateuch The Commandments are supplemented with hundreds of rules scattered throughout the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible). These laws are eclectic, to say the least. God expects burnt offerings. He imposes strict laws on diet and clothing and severely limits actions that are acceptable on the Sabbath. Usury - lending money for interest - is unacceptable between believers. The deity's obsession with sex leads him to provide a long list of relatives whose nakedness must not be uncovered - prurient code for "do not have sex with". Adulterers must be stoned, sex with prostitutes is forbidden (yet daughters can be sold into prostitution: see Exodus 21:7-11), sex with animals or between men is out of the question and men cannot have sex with a woman and her daughter or granddaughter at the same time. On the other hand, sex when neither partner is married is not explicitly forbidden, and while many obscure forms of incest are condemned, brother-sister relationships have been left off the list. God occasionally strays into the absurd. A woman who defends her husband by seizing his enemy's genitals must have her hand cut off. (Deuteronomy 25:11-12); that means it is better for a man to die than for his wife to save his life by punching his attacker's penis. With such a motley moral code, even the most devout believers fail to live up to God's peculiar standards. Even the most zealous fundamentalist has refrained from stoning adulterers in living memory. And although fundamentalist Christians insist that the whole Bible is the word of God, they have no qualms about disobeying him; they happily place meat and dairy products in the same refrigerator and charge interests on loans and seldom offer Yahweh a slaughtered cow... 6.2d The Q'uran
6.2e Promoting privilege, not welfare What if we set aside the weirder rules in the Old Testament and Q'uran and focus on the key commandments - don't kill, don't steal and don't lie? Is the abridged version of God's morality worthy of respect? Unfortunately, no. Firstly, because if you accept the scripture of your faith, you cannot pick and choose which rules to follow or ignore. If God tells you to stone adulterers and you fail to do so, you are presumably as immoral as the adulterers Yahweh / Allah tells you to condemn. Secondly, and more importantly from the humanist perspective, the basic principles of Old Testament / Q'uran (OTQ) morality are unacceptable because (a) they do not consider all human beings of equal value, and (b) they sometimes lead to human suffering rather than human welfare. Look at the evidence. In God's "morality", men are privileged over women, adults over children, heterosexuals over homosexuals, believers over non-believers or followers of other faiths. The privileges religion grants to heterosexual, believing, men deprive the rest of humanity the freedom to lead happy, fulfilling lives. In Yahweh's and Allah's eyes, women are unclean, secondary human beings, owned and controlled by their fathers, brothers or husbands. Throughout their lives they must subordinate their physical and mental freedom to men who in every other respect may be their inferiors.
Meanwhile, all homosexuals, women or men, are denied the right to lead happy lives. Same-sex marriage is forbidden; homosexual men may not have sex with each other; and when forced into heterosexual marriage, they, their partners and their children are also likely to suffer. And under Old Testament and Quranic law, non-believers, who may lead far more moral lives than those who worship, are denied equality. They are therefore unable to fulfil their potential as full members of society; they are also at risk of being slaughtered with impunity (various passages in the Old Testament and Quran). 6.2f God's hypocrisy Even worse, God expects his creation to obey a moral code that he himself breaks regularly. In the Old Testament he commits mass murder several times. In some cases those who die have opposed his will, but at other times, from the genocide of the Flood to the capricious slaughter of the first-born in Egypt, his victims include newborns, young and innocent. Where he does not act himself, he allows or encourages others to act on his behalf, including carrying out forced abortion and murder of expectant mothers (Hosea 13:16), rape (Deuteronomy 21: 10-14) and mass murder (several instances, including Judges 15). On paper the Quranic god is less bloodthirsty than his Biblical counterpart (a fact that surprises many non-Muslims) but he still encourages his followers to kill sinners and non-believers in his name.
6.2g Love thy neighbour
Jesus' morality is human-centred, and much more acceptable than the OTQ version. Unfortunately, it does not completely supersede the Old Testament. Not only does Paul, the other major figure in the New Testament, have some decidedly OTQ views, but Book of Revelation tells us that at the End of the World, Jesus returns to slaughter humanity at the end of the world, while his alter-ego, God, condemns the damned to the eternal fires of Hell. 6.2h The unnecessary God In the Christian world at least, much religious morality has evolved. As it has moved from Old Testament violence and discrimination towards New Testament love and inclusion, it has become increasingly humanist - as God becomes increasingly less relevant. The problem is that Christian morality has not moved far enough. Many Christians - together with Jews and Muslims - still base their morality on values that ultimately divide society and harm millions of men and women. And those same believers continue to ascribe their morality to a God whose power ultimately stems from violence and abuse. The Bible and Q'uran tell us that God claims to be moral, but his commandments and behaviour are often inconsistent, immoral and hypocritical. True morality comes not when we accept God, but when we reject him. Next: Chapter Six: Section 3 Ethics 
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If God existed, he would... admire the beauty of a universe that he did not create recognize that eternity is meaningless deny both heaven and hell disown all men and women who speak in his name denounce the harm caused by religious "morality" help the human race to thrive without him If God existed, he would be an atheist. What is the difference between science and faith? science is certain of nothing and requires proof of everything faith is certain of everything and requires proof of nothing Which do you trust? "I know there is no God" or "I believe there is no God" ??? Check the answer |
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