The Big Bang: Why is it still being taught?

Your disagreement with what I'm saying seems to hinge on the actual definition of morality and what it means to be moral and what it means to be imoral, which I don't really care about here.

No, it doesn't. Not in the slightest. You aren't even reading my posts. I'm done.
 
The belief in a deity does not really have to be part of a morality. Obviously it is in tautology in religions like Christianity, but that doesn't mean anything in regards to a connection between belief in a god and being moral. The Aztecs seemed to believe in their gods quite a lot. There is no reason to think they viewed ritual sacrifice as moral. Besides, they definitely did not view Tezcatlipoca as moral either, he was just a god who threatened to kill them if they don't kill some people so as to give him more strength in his eternal fight against other god-monsters.
 
I'm pretty sure the Aztecs understood their relationship to the gods as moral one, they just didn't construct it in Christian terms. Sacrifices could be a gift, establishing an obligation on the part of the recipient deity, or they could be the fulfilment of such an obligation on the part of the worshippers; sacrifice was thus part of a moral relationship. Just because it isn't assumed that the deity represents an iteration of the Good doesn't mean that the worshipper and deity do not act virtuously in relation to each other.

True enough, this indicates a moral system which precedes the deity and which the deity is located within (rather than one which the deity either creates or embodies), but it doesn't suggest a separation of morale and religious practice, as you seem to be arguing.
 
I'm pretty sure the Aztecs understood their relationship to the gods as moral one, they just didn't construct it in Christian terms. Sacrifices could be a gift, establishing an obligation on the part of the recipient deity, or they could be the fulfilment of such an obligation on the part of the worshippers; sacrifice was thus part of a moral relationship. Just because it isn't assumed that the deity represents an iteration of the Good doesn't mean that the worshipper and deity do not act virtuously in relation to each other.

True enough, this indicates a moral system which precedes the deity and which the deity is located within (rather than one which the deity either creates or embodies), but it doesn't suggest a separation of morale and religious practice, as you seem to be arguing.

Maybe, however i noted that it is not evident that they had a moral tie to Tezcatlipoca or other deities of that kind. And on your part you did not bother to provide a source that they had; you just argued that it has to follow they did cause it was a relation between a people and a deity.

But Tezcatlipoca was named by the Aztecs themselves as "the Enemy of both sides", ie an enemy to the other gods as well as to the Aztec people. Hardly a ground for moral relationship. I mean if you lived under a bloodthirsty tyrant you would be highly likely to try to follow his orders, but you would be insane to claim that it follows that was due to believing it moral to do so :)

(a more recent example of a possible non-moral religious following would be 'black magic' and followers who have voodoo/other gods they pray to so that they can help them harm other people. I doubt they view that affair as moral).
 
not only, culture, social interaction, etc are sources of morality - mom & dad

Yeah, but let's recap what I've been trying to say: I am taking people who say "God is my only source of morality" and . ...

ahh who cares, it doesn't matter.
 
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