TED Community » Aura Raducan

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• +3

  A comment on Talk: Hans Rosling: Religions and babies

  May 22 2012: And why there will be no increased age at first marriage, increased educational level and integration into the labor force for women? Because of religion.
• +2

  A reply on Talk: Frans de Waal: Moral behavior in animals

  May 4 2012: Darlene said: "Doesn't his research say that we all, including all animals, will have to rely on God for morality, fairness, compassion?"
  
  Let me give you an example of morality that exists completely independent from the Bible and God.
  
  If there is one thing on which modern people agree with respect to morality is that slavery is wrong. What does the Bible say about slavery?
  
  - how to obtain slaves
  - how hard you can beat them
  - how female sex slaves are supposed to please the masters
  ...etc.
  
  In conclusion, the Bible endorses slavery.
  
  The common answer to this is "Well, that was Old Testament stuff", right? Wrong. The New Testament, including Jesus, does not have a problem with slavery. In fact, there is no instance in the Bible where it says that owning another human being is wrong, something which is pretty obvious today.
  
  So how did humans reach the conclusion that slavery is wrong? Obviously not by reading the Bible. This shows that humans DO have morality which is independent from the Bible, and I would dare to say that secular morality is considerably superior to Bible "morality".
• +7

  A reply on Talk: Frans de Waal: Moral behavior in animals

  Apr 26 2012: I am amazed to see somebody claiming that God is the source of morality since the Bible is full of atrocities, most of it committed as a result of the command of God. Of course, if we accept for a second the fact that a God DOES exist, something that has not bees successfully proven so far.
  
  Here is one passage that I find quite intriguing. Intriguing because it comes from a book that is supposedly the true, perfect word of God and a source of morality:
  
  "As you approach a town to attack it, first offer its people terms for peace. If they accept your terms and open the gates to you, then all the people inside will serve you in forced labor. But if they refuse to make peace and prepare to fight, you must attack the town. When the LORD your God hands it over to you, kill every man in the town. But you may keep for yourselves all the women, children, livestock, and other plunder. You may enjoy the spoils of your enemies that the LORD your God has given you." Deuteronomy 20:10-14
  
  So what do we have here?
  - warmongering
  - killing
  - slavery
  - stealing
  
  Oh, Deuteronomy, you never fail to provide us with excellent instances of God's bankrupt and decayed "morality".
  
  Please don't tell me that the Old Testament is not relevant anymore because of what Jesus did in the New Testament. If you do so, I will simply assume that you don't accept the ten commandments as well. :)

• A comment on Talk: Rick Warren: A life of purpose

  Mar 17 2012: 30 million copies for his book? Thank God for that!

• A reply on Talk: Shlomo Benartzi: Saving for tomorrow, tomorrow

  Feb 23 2012: He reminds me of Elmer Fudd from Bugs Bunny.