I call it illegal.

tell the people that have benn beatin and tortured for pleasure or kids that have been raped that there's no evil

how about a person that does something for another not wanting anything in return. you wouldn't call that good?

good point.

IMO....it is also in the heart and mind. doing good works with an evil heart and mind isn't any better than doing the bad works

Even God is a concept.

Philosophically there are successful arguments to explain the intangible like god. Likewise Philosophically we can argue the presence of good and evil.

Free will inherently breeds questions but even animals have free will. Like animals though there are things that are not subject to free will. The need for safety, and food are two things we need transcendent of choice. Likewise with many species of animals breeding is not a matter of choice but three criteria, Season, smell, and strength. If all three criteria are not met many animals will not breed but if met it matters not who is watching, the 'bison' (as well as many other animals) will start humping any willing female like crazy.

I personally think that the idea of good came first as in "what is good for the tribe." When people started to use group survival techniques we had to frame what was acceptable behavior and what was not. Maneuvering around harm (ie predators) was better than trying to sneak past them but if a predator attacked it was good for the whole tribe to gang up and face the predator off in numbers because if one member broke from the group then they were meat! Likewise it was not acceptable to kill another tribe member because of a disagreement because ti would weaken the tribe in the presence of a predator.

Good and evil are tools like the many others we made. Humans are tool using and concepts unlike instincts which are genetically programmed are made. Like tools these concepts can be abused. Religion loves to play on fear. Fear is an instinct but they use concepts to drive and motivate fear. In "the Principles of Rule" "Fear" is a tool just like torture and pain.

There is a saying called 'belief manifest reality.' It means if you can think of it and believe in it it exists. Given if you regress existence to its most basic elements there is no good and evil but since we are granted with higher thinking and mechanical reasoning our existence in itself does mean that good and evil do exist because we can determine what is right and wrong as a group and even on a personal level.

Again without the concept of right and wrong our society would not exist at all. We would still be in the stone age if that.

I had asked this before of the idea of "The Garden of Eden" being a metaphor of the time before man "Became aware." I am not the only one to have come up with this thought. When man became aware he was 'cast' from the blissful ignorance of animalistic existence (the garden) and emerged in the cold world of logic and reason. In the Garden of Eden there was no good and evil. Outside of the garden there is.

Does good and evil exist in the universe? Yes, because we MADE it!

Everything is perfect!

yeah, like those people "questioned" by the Spanish Inquisition, or all those minors who were molested by their priests...

wow....you are a broken record aren't you? what about my ex that was beaten by his drunk dad all his life (the dad was NOT a believer of anything) and the family friend that used him as a "boy toy" (his words) when he was 10?

what about the many adults that abuse kids, elderly, etc?

It doesn't take religion to see those actions as bad actions, and all it really shows is that our morals have moved past religion, and yet the majority of us can't.

I may sound like a broken record, but I will continue to do so, and long as Muslims kill random people, because "allah" is in another cartoon, or they don't agree with a book. I will continue to do so as long as those priest who molested don't get charged, and continue to just get re-located, without the new parish being informed, as long as someone can get away with murder, by confessing to a priest.

There is plenty of blood on Religion's hands, and I will be a broken record, until we stop pretending it's not there.

Almost all humans (99%)are "evil".This is a world of wickedness

as well as non-religious. it really has nothing to do with religion but the mind of man.

As long as the Holy books stated to kill those who don't belief as you, it does have to do with religion.

and what book do non-believers use?

Dianetics! Har Dee Har Har!

hush andy....just sit there and look pretty

depends on what you mean by non-believers. If we are being one religion specific, then those who believe other holy books use that.

If we are talking about non-believers, as in Atheists and Agnostic, there is no holy book, a there have been atheists/agnostics who have done things that would be considered evil. Many people look at Stalin, and say "this is what happens when you put an atheist in charge" when in reality what should be said is "that is what happens when you give one person too much power"

As my signature says on other message board: "Without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil—that takes religion. "- Steven Weinberg

There are so many people out there that do bad things in the name of god, we will look at the example of those people who have killed abortion clinic doctors. With Religion, they bring up scriptures that defend their actions, and claim to have done gods work, take religion completely out of the picture, and those people have no excuse for what they have done.

Like I brought up in another thread, If I were to come to you, and say that I killed someone, if you don't tell the authorities, you go down as an accessory to murder. Why should I priest be able to not tell, when it would result in jail-time for you?

with or without religion....people will do good or evil....people just use it to hide behind.

so if an athiest does evil (no religion attached) then does it really have to do with religion or a sick mind? same with any religion....if they do evil, does it have to do with religion or a sick mind?

There is no evil. Right and wrong, good and bad are constructs created by religion. Don't go trying to put words into my mouth by saying I condone those actions. I believe in acting in such a way as to make the world a more pleasurable and better place to live in. Those types of actions are not socially acceptable and do not benefit mankind or make the world a better place.

The Origin of Species

i know this wasn't to me. and i know you didn't condone them. but could good and evil be what someone perceives?

to me the above is evil, wrong, and bad

I am sure that the rs have convinced themselves that they are doing good.