Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

It wont be so silly when Big Boris comes for Call Me Dave's job.

Is this reality appearing?

Just 46pc of us believe religion plays positive role

Less than half of Irish people feel religion plays a positive role in the country – while a third believe it has a negative effect.

Older Irish people were more likely to be positive towards religion than the rest of the population – with 70pc of those over 65 believing religion was a positive influence.

The WIN Gallup International poll found that overall, 46pc of Irish respondents said religion plays a positive role in the country.

Those of no religious persuasion at all were most likely to believe that religion had a negative effect in Ireland, at 70pc.

The most sceptical lived in Western Europe, which recorded significantly lower positivity than other regions.

As with the Irish, 45pc of Canadians were positive about religion, far ahead of France where just 20pc were positive and the UK (35pc).

Drop a few Nuclear bombs and have another poll.

Hazy One,

What do you mean by religion?

Bye the way when were you let down by religion?

What flimsier belief, do you hold now?

'The Government' need religion to do the job of 'preaching morality to the masses'.

Other than that, DC is joking. Doesn't he keep up with modern technology?

eg. The Large Hadron Collider, which helps in the task of explaining how matter can be created from nothing. Thus the start the universe doesn't need 'a creator being' and therefore, the whole idea of 'a creator god' being required to do just that, is trashed. Thus 'Religion' is just nothing more than mystic daft belief.

And the disease of mysticism is the worst disease of the human race!

eg. Hasn't DC watched just even an hour's worth of TV presented by Prof. Stephen Hawking? Such TV comes up with the same conclusion! God is just mysticism. There is no after life. Life does not begin when you die. When you die life ends!

What is required, is a big government re-think on how you get a better morality taught to everyone about everything and principally to do with 'Think before you act and do unto others as you would be done unto yourself.'

We might even get a better NHS, less litter around the place, more care and concern for the elderly, etc, etc, etc.

People who don't believe in god do a pretty good job at passing on morality. The number believing is falling fast, but there doesn't seem to be a decline in morality.

Haystack

Re: Your two sentences:

People who don't believe in god do a pretty good job at passing on morality. The number is falling fast,...

I agree wholeheartedly.

.....but there doesn't seem to be a decline in morality.

I'm not so sure on this one.

eg, The decline in care in the NHS is almost 'immoral' and there are numerous examples of how both management and staff don't seem to care.

eg. We often take our dog to the local 'Abington Park', where primarily, tons of kids and young adults (who are definitely the main culprits) don't care about leaving their litter. This in a way, is also quite 'immoral' too.

A group of youngsters can go and do their 'football training' on the park. After they've gone, they leave a whole pile of litter and liquid refreshment bottles behind! Such a lack of care towards the wider community just has to be 'immoral'.

I define immorality as being primarily 'unhealthy selfishness'.

And the stories we keep reading about bad care for the elderly also seems to indicate a lack of care, compassion (and poor morality) as well. It even lacks the morality of those involved in not doing a fair day's work for a fair day's pay. Albeit that one could argue about the 'fair day's pay', I suppose.

I suspect that your pervceived immorality, which is really being anti social, has more to do with the UK becoming ng multicultural and multi ethnic. We have acquired people from countries where their norms of behaviour are very different. I have a friend who worked in Lagos where corruption is normal and life is cheap. My friend bought his licence from the chief of the city police and was told not to stop if he hit someone with his car. If he was dead then it didn't matter and if he wasn't then he might attack him.

I don't think any of your examples amount to immorality.

Exe

A short time ago I met up with an old school friend who had a first in Mathematics and a Ph.D. at Oxford and has spent the most of his life as a senior lecturer in useful research at another University.

We equally shocked each other, by him saying that he still believed in a God and myself confessing to still being an atheist.

A mutual friend looked on and said nothing other than that another glass of wine was needed.

Beliefs sometimes bear little relationship to intelligence.


--------

Perhaps, a god and a religion objectifies for many their "wishes" with the strength of "feelings" of "needs".

Psychopaths have their own "morality" often concentrating on their desires and frustration if those feeling are not satisfied. Often they lack of empathy with others, and show little remorse, or an ability to feel "guilt" at advantaging themselves at the expense of others.

The replacement of "guilt" being replace by disappointment and not achieving what they wished.

-----------

Is there such a thing as a Universal Morality?

If so based on what?

Who built the first (very) Large Hadron Collider?

Where did the matter come from?




Let there be light

European elections: Conservatives face poll humiliation as one in three Tory voters defect to Ukip

Telegraph/ICM poll finds David Cameron faces a grim third-place finish behind Ukip in the European elections, as up to half of Tory voters abandon the party





By Tim Ross, Political Correspondent

9:30PM BST 19 Apr 2014



The Conservatives face being forced into third place in next month’s European Parliament elections, as up to half of Tory voters prepare to desert the party, an exclusive poll for The Telegraph has found.


Labour is currently in first place, with 30 per cent of the vote, while Ukip are second on 27 per cent. The Conservatives are a distant third on 22 per cent, according to the ICM survey of 2,000 adults.


The poll reveals how many of those who voted Conservative at the last general election will turn against the party next month - the first UK-wide poll since 2010.


One in three voters who backed the Tories four years ago - 37 per cent - now say that they plan to vote for Nigel Farage’s UK Independence Party in the European elections on May 22, among those who intend to turn-out.



more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/10776305/European-elections-Conservatives-face-poll-humiliation-as-one-in-three-Tory-voters-defect-to-Ukip.html

Another one of Cameron's mates?

Shows sure footed leadership!

======

Quango boss appointed by David Cameron resigns after it ...
www.telegraph.co.uk › News › Politics
10 hours ago - Tony Caplin, the former head of the Public Works Loans Board, resigned on Saturday night after it emerged he was declared bankrupt in 2012.

How many aiders and little helpers at No 10 has Wavy Dave to lose?

universal morality - the simple dictum of do as you would be done by works pretty well

eu election gloating - while i'm sure it is true that the tories will get a very bloody nose in the eu elections, it would be foolish and wishful thinking of their opponents to believe that this will de facto translate into general election results - unless the tories are even more stupid and incompetent than even they have managed to show so far .... neverthless, the tories assuredly need to take note and accept the upcoming result as a significant blast of warning across the bows

mind you, the labour party has not shown itself to be much of an alternative either, so perhaps it will merely be a case of which of those two parties can put itself across as being the lesser bunch of nincompoops

Or
Do unto others before they do it to you