Please provide some examples of these morals that religions offer.
Well, to begin with basic Christian ones, thou shalt not kill, steal, bear false witness, commit adultery, covet, etc. etc.
Many Christian beliefs also center around forgiveness, loving thine neighbor, etc.
And while there are many ways to interpret the Christian bible, there are many passages in the Bible that say EXACTLY that, so it's kind of hard to say they're not there. Those teachings are physically present.
Actually, if you look at the core of these arguments they always come back to religion. I'm not convinced that religion isn't the source of these arguments. How many reasonable agnostics do you know who support sexism, homophobia, slavery, and sadism? Compare that number to Christians who support these concepts.
I'm inclined to disagree. There are people who are good that are nonreligious; there are people that are bad that are nonreligious. I've known many atheist assholes that feel perfectly inclined to wrinkle their noses at homosexuals as much as they are Christianity, and I know many Christians that are very good friends with said homosexuals.
But I digress. Sexism has existed before Christianity and most other religions; that is partly from the "needs" at the time, though, and continued through culture. Documented homophobia has existed as long as documented homosexuality. Slavery exists in cultures even today that are not part of any mainstream religious affiliations. Sadism is not a part of religion; one could argue it's a part of "human nature." Mental illness, abuse, circumstances, lust for power, etc. could all be factors of sadism; I do not see how sadism is based in religion at all.
In contemporary times, these things only connect to religion because they connect to tradition, and religion has been a base of tradition for as long as religion has existed. In fact, almost all established cultures have some form of religion, so I'd say that to connect these things to religion would be more or less a step away from the fact that all of these things tend to exist naturally. They don't stem from religion; however, they stem from the same base as religion.
The concept of widespread agnosticism is fairly new, at least on the accepted scale that it is presently. However, I am not convinced that agnosticism creates less sadism, sexism, prejudice, or anything else. What it does do is create a mentality against the mainstream, so they are more likely to think about what they "believe" or why they should behave a certain way. That is only as long as we are in the process of change and new ideas, though; once agnosticism is established, it's likely that it will be as blindly followed as anything else, and won't really eliminate anything.
The thing you should be pointing fingers at is conformism, not religion. Religion in and of itself is not a bad thing, nor does it aim to do harm. However, blind following of anything, be it religion, government, philosophy, or anything else, will lead to prejudice and prosecution.
I agree. Religion has become obsolete.
I disagree. Religion in the sense of spirituality is not obsolete. Religion in the sense of conformism, though, is obsolete, and should be reconsidered.
