This Machine Can Tell Whether You're Liberal or Conservative

> Feel better?

Do you? Do you need to go pray now?

> So back to your original comment about moral toolboxes--what would belong in yours? How do they get there? What morals do you think others should follow?

Reality based morality like secular humanism, not ignorance passed down from iron age savages who didn't know fuck all about the world and thought Gods made things happen.

> Sounds pretty arbitrary.

As opposed to fairly tales, please, you don't get to accuse reasoning as arbitrary while following nonsense made up by savages from the iron age. If anything is arbitrary, it's the shit you call divine.

I did not ignore it, I clearly said secular humanism[1] and later said reasoning which is how it works. Rather than asking me more stupid questions I've already answered, go look up how secular humanism arrives at such answers, they are there.

Morality should be reasoned about, not blindly accepted from the demands of ancient savages. You have a brain, try and use it. At the very least, pay attention when your questions are answered so you don't foolishly keep repeating them due to a lack of reading comprehension.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_humanism

Once again, I did answer the question, you're just too lazy to see it. You should spend more time reading what I gave you. There's no such thing as absolute right and wrong; right and wrong are agreements between people and what's considered right and wrong change over time and must be worked out through reason and debate. Had you spent an ounce of effort reading the link I gave you, you wouldn't still be asking the same questions since the whole point of secular morality is to answer those questions.

If you think right and wrong can be defined by ignorant people from thousands of years ago, you're being foolish. If you think God defines right and wrong, you're just beyond help.

I'll tell you what, despite the fact that I don't and can't consider this a serious conversation because I consider you delusional and incapable of reason (all theists are), I'll play nice since you are.

> I've known no atheist who actually believes the nonsense that "right and wrong are agreements between people."

I wager you don't understand atheists well enough to have a clue how they actually think because reasoning is a foreign concept to a mind that thinks divine decree is source enough for answers.

There is no such thing as absolute right and wrong, that's not an opinion, that's a fact. If right and wrong were absolute, there'd be no disagreement about what constitutes right and wrong. Right and wrong are determined by the individual and negotiated by society into laws. To even attempt to claim there's a such thing as absolute right and wrong you must demonstrate a source for said absolutes and no one in the history of mankind has been able to do so because it doesn't exist.

Christians (and others) currently conduct in barbarism otherwise known as genital mutilation that any reasoning person sees as clearly wrong, yet you have no problem cutting parts off babies. I think that's wrong, you likely don't, why... because there are no absolutes.

Christian morals are certainly not absolute, they evolve over time, because they, like all morals, are the result of negotiation among individuals.

> After all, German society had redefined humanity to exclude Jews.

And the rest of the world reasoned this was wrong and acted to stop him. See how that works, reasoning among people.

> Hitler was acting consistently within his society's moral code.

But not within the moral code of those who had the power to stop him. Again, reasoning between people.

> My world-view absolutely has no problem saying Hitler was wrong.

Nor do atheists or any other reasoning people. That you think others have trouble saying Hitler was wrong simply shows how badly you understand how others think.

> Right and wrong make sense given the Christian's set of axioms.

No they don't. You worship a mass murderer (from your own perspective) and say murder is wrong. If you think Christians are moral I have news for you, Christians are some of the worst examples of mankind that exist. You teach fear and ignorance, you teach discrimination and hate, you oppress those you don't agree with all the while claiming you're being oppressed.

You are no better than the Taliban; you are in fact the American equivalent.

> Not so with the atheist

False, reasoning always makes sense and always arrives at equal or better answers than following rules lain down by ignorant savages from millennia ago.

> How would you characterize your beliefs on the existence of non-material things?

Depends on what you mean by non-material.

> Do you believe in a ghost or spirit?

There's no evidence that would warrant a belief in such things.

> Are there non-material objects that exist given your view of the world? For example, is there such a thing as a "law" that governs our thoughts or the natural world?

Depends on what you mean by governs. Again, you and I are animals evolved from more violent past animals grasping to survive in a world full of other violent animals. The natural world exists, and follows what appear to be consistent rules that are merely the side effects of the nature of matter and energy; we call these rules Physics.