UsaSatsui wrote:

Quote: Those were ingrained in us by religions a hell of a lot older than Christianity. The Jews, the Hindus, the Buddhists...all pre-Jesus, and all felt the same way about killing and stealing. I was using Christianity as an example. It's the dominant religion in western society. And you just made my point for me, that morality is ingrained in our life by religion.

Alternately, some degree of morality and some degree of belief in the supernatural are inherant in people, either directly or by way of byproduct, I'm neither qualified nor inclined to declare which for which. It would be more accurate to say that moral practices are culturally ingrained, of which the variety of religious experience influences. Take Cattivo, who is catholic, and have him born in Mexico, Ireland, or Cuba and see the change in moral character despite retaining the same religion.

I would point out that before China declared the state to be the state religion, morals were derived from logical systems like confucionism and taoism. They bear the mark of ancestor worship, but they are wholly things unto themselves now. I would also point out that Buddhism, depending on the iteration, is in itself agnosic on matter of a divine movers and shakers so theres that.

Syd, while Americans are morally influenced by Christian traditions, were also influenced by great thinkers from the enlightenment(and their dedicated students, the founders) and the organic cultural adaptations needed to bring together a factionally split country of a ever changing list of immigrants. In any case, our culture and justice system may be much of the creation of christianity, and you can even teach children about the bible, a key skill for understaning western culture or literature, but that does not mean that god himself wrote the book or that hell actually exists, and thats a very important distinction in forming a moral system using the bible, as much of its moral weight rests on the existence of an afterlife or the declarations of a sky being