Thread: Are we evil?

Why all the religions i.e. people who are behind them /maybe except Buddhism/ are so intolerant towards each other?

I think because, people are intolerant but still can’t understand why religion brings so much blood spill. Are we human so evil or just easily brainwashed by our politicians?

Religion is often the excuse for a war, it is never the reason. War is about greed and power.

We humans are what we are. We are neither evil nor good. Whats evil and good is set by the society.

But a universal norm is the freedom of choice, freedom of speech, religion writing etc is those who are good. Those who oppose it is only after power

The vast majority of people apply a code of morale, and you will meet very few people, who will claim to be totally imorale.

Morality is in our genes, because it's necessary in order to survive in society. Humans follow various codes, but at least they follow one.

In order to satisfy their instinct of greed and power, many others twist their morale to fit their view. Many people fool themselves by purpose. They need a justification for themselves. It's better to commit a crime in the name of god, than only for yourself.
In a larger extent, for a leader, the legitimacy given by a holy code of morale is more than welcome

I think Zelos is right in his saying about being evil. Humans are not evil for evil is the word we humans use to describe people and other things that do not fit our morals.

For the tolerance in religion: we defend everything we find vulnerable. If someone insults your child, you’ll defend it. The same counts for religion. Religion is a very vulnerable thing, for there are a lot of people who don’t believe in it. So when you are religious you have the feeling that you have to defend your believes against al (possible) atackers. This might be a cause for the reaction of some religious people. So we are not intolerant but just very defensive which can lead to defending something that hasn’t been in danger yet.

The topic was worth more of an answer than what you posted. I'll do my best to answer both with as little text as possible.

Philosophically, you have to define that which is truly evil. However, every act has a beneficial effect whether to the doer or to someone else indirectly. Inherently, nothing is "good" nor "evil" since all actions teeter on the line of neutrality due to the limitless chain reactions they cause. One persons breath may, quite literally, change the world indirectly.

I think that here, though, POSITIVE effects are good and negative ones are evil. However that is limited by pure subjectivity since good/evil are subjective terms entirely. Going by this, it's logical to assume that there is no good or evil, just what you want and what others think about your methods of getting it.

Originally Posted by Tess

Why all the religions i.e. people who are behind them /maybe except Buddhism/ are so intolerant towards each other?

They're intolerant due to the context in which they are spoken about. For example, religions that had/have many Gods seemingly dwelt just fine with other differing religions. This is because, to my knowledge, nobody claimed 100% truth or validity, so coexisting with other Gods was possible (and there was no ultimate creators in polytheistic religion to my knowledge).

The polytheistic religions of old were most likely the most peaceful relationship wise (save for warring nations) due to the way they were setup. While monotheistic religion dwells on one all powerful creator-of-everything God, the polytheistic ones tend to focus on the balance of God/human relationships. Greeks for example, had the idea that Gods needed them just like they needed the Gods. This, along with numerous power struggles, proves non-omnipotence or omniscience.

In a monotheistic religion, all others are false due to the fact that one all powerful creator-of-everything God is the "true" God. Many semitic tribes started endless wars over this (and it continues today) to wipe the "false gods" from the face of the earth. The problem with that is, polytheistic religions were here first. Monotheism loses it's "true God" bit, especially since they weren't here first.

Since polytheism was based on human-God relationship it wasn't too big of an issue meeting other Gods (I believe tales of hero's doing this are in some legends. Although I'm not sure about the Greeks). This probably is the base of the belief that humans created Gods. Thus, no reason to war over which God is "true" since they're all equally different and handle different things. They can coexist peacefully, or violently depending on the God(s).

Originally Posted by Tess

I think because, people are intolerant but still can’t understand why religion brings so much blood spill. Are we human so evil or just easily brainwashed by our politicians?

easily brainwashed. Humans are more sheep than independant thinkers now days. Overall, going by the philosophy summary of "evil", they just end up too stupid to realize the effects of their actions. they also follow their interpretation of what the religion says. This is how you get Jew haters, homosexual haters, racists, etc. They're "unholy" by their interpretation. And as we all know, God smites those unholy. they're doing God's work!

In the end I think humans are intolerable because they're stupid, as few have a good reason (unlike hating an ADHD person. The reason speaks for itself).

Originally Posted by Powerdoc

Morality is in our genes, because it's necessary in order to survive in society. Humans follow various codes, but at least they follow one.

Why morality is necessary to survive. Do you think animals have ‘morality’?

Originally Posted by Jeremyhfht

Humans are more sheep than independant thinkers now days. Overall, going by the philosophy summary of "evil", they just end up too stupid to realize the effects of their actions. they also follow their interpretation of what the religion says. This is how you get Jew haters, homosexual haters, racists, etc. They're "unholy" by their interpretation. And as we all know, God smites those unholy. they're doing God's work!

In the end I think humans are intolerable because they're stupid, as few have a good reason (unlike hating an ADHD person. The reason speaks for itself).

This is so sad. What can we do as individuals do change this?

Originally Posted by Tess

Originally Posted by Powerdoc

Morality is in our genes, because it's necessary in order to survive in society. Humans follow various codes, but at least they follow one.

Why morality is necessary to survive. Do you think animals have ‘morality’?

It makes sense not to go round killing your own type, whether this is 'morality' - who knows?. I think the Doc's point is that if an individual decides to adopt a 'kill all' attitude they are likely not to survive.

Originally Posted by Tess

This is so sad. What can we do as individuals do change this?

Clense the world? Haha

Originally Posted by Zelos

We humans are what we are. We are neither evil nor good. Whats evil and good is set by the society.

But a universal norm is the freedom of choice, freedom of speech, religion writing etc is those who are good. Those who oppose it is only after power

Would you not consider as evil the man or woman that tortured an innocent child or animal continuously day after day, just for their own pleasure.

And if your answer is yes then should that individuals right to freedom of choice and actions be taken away?

Originally Posted by Jeremyhfht

The topic was worth more of an answer than what you posted. .

Why?

We all love intellectualizing with words. Funny enough, you will find not many abstract words, which have the same meaning to each of us.
I don’ care about absolute truth or subjective morality. I am searching for answers how can I deal with all this evil i.e. pain, negative emotions, and subjective unhappiness in humans.

You need to define a threshold of what you consider evil, since it is a relative term.

Originally Posted by Megabrain

You need to define a threshold of what you consider evil, since it is a relative term.

Sure it is. However, it does not make any difference to a person how you define the word if it brings pain suffering etc.

side note: The Roman Catholic Church's doctrine on other faiths is that God's light shines through each of them in some way in some amount and so none of them are essentially evil as all have some spark of God's grace...therefore people of any faith could potentially reach heaven by a mixture of faith in their specific faith and a good life...

-Ajain

Originally Posted by Tess

Originally Posted by Jeremyhfht

The topic was worth more of an answer than what you posted. .

Why?

We all love intellectualizing with words. Funny enough, you will find not many abstract words, which have the same meaning to each of us.
I don’ care about absolute truth or subjective morality. I am searching for answers how can I deal with all this evil i.e. pain, negative emotions, and subjective unhappiness in humans.

Yeah, it's called psychology.

Originally Posted by Megabrain

You need to define a threshold of what you consider evil, since it is a relative term.

I gave him one, he apparently rejected it.

Originally Posted by Zelos

We humans are what we are. We are neither evil nor good. Whats evil and good is set by the society.

I don’t give in to the society neither to the ‘absolute truth’. Is therefore the word evil just intellectualization and creation of our mind?

Originally Posted by Jeremyhfht

Originally Posted by Tess

Originally Posted by Jeremyhfht

The topic was worth more of an answer than what you posted. .

Why?

We all love intellectualizing with words. Funny enough, you will find not many abstract words, which have the same meaning to each of us.
I don’ care about absolute truth or subjective morality. I am searching for answers how can I deal with all this evil i.e. pain, negative emotions, and subjective unhappiness in humans.

Yeah, it's called psychology.

No, you call it our mind /if it exists/