Thank you for your response. To be honest, the inspiration for this thread came from a morning full of coffee, dishwashing and religious debate amongst my co-workers.
I myself am not religious in the least. I have certain things that I adhere to and tout, but I, like most of the world, am a hypocrite from time to time. Using certain edicts from old religions and social/moral contracts just seemed like a fun idea to me.
I can't really say whether I believe the statement "God is dead.". In certain ways of thinking, yes. Deader than fried chicken. But the idea of a creator doesn't turn me off. Personally, I think about the idea of God is everything, meaning we are all equal, which reaches for cooperation, contribution and peace. But what it got turned into was the Ego's perception of the "way things should be". Which is different for everybody. So if nobody can agree, then there can be no cooperation, and if your not helping each other, then there is no contribution to the greater good, which leads to conflict.
To me morals are not just about the end by which means are justified, but they are the lessons you keep by learning from mistakes that shape your attitude and determine how you treat other people. Morals to me are things like honor, dignity, respect, loyalty.
Religious morality? I've not seen such a thing on the broad scale. Religious immorality? That's another story. And yes, I think the books are good for examples of the mistakes that we must learn from. Not the stories and Aesop-style morals, but just taking a look at what mankind has perpetrated in the name of scripture are the follies that need to be brought to light before we allow our world to be consumed by it.
Yeah, Hedonism isn't a religion. More of ethos, I suppose, or a social/moral contract.
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