Originally Posted by streetwaves

I completely disagree that we need the Bible in order to have a sense of morality. Modern Christians pick and choose what from the Bible they pay attention to, and ignore the rest. Does this not illustrate a modern sense of morality that has evolved since the Bible was written?

Stoicism taught such things as compassion years before Jesus was said to have been born, and did so without promising any life beyond death. They did consider it a possibility, and they most likely believed in some sort of god, but so did most every culture in history. Most of these primitive religions are "dead" now and not treated with the same sort of baseless respect as modern monotheistic religions - but if their gods were a figment of their imagination, where must their sense of morality have come from?

Our sense of morality has evolved over time, and it continues to do so. If anything, the Bible and other religious books have contributed to slowing our progress.