[Don_1]

There can be no doubt that religions have played a great part in man's moral evolution. Whether we would have arrived at the same moral codes without religion is open to question, but the answer can never be known.

Have we, in fact, retained the same moral codes as our animal cousins? Some animals are gregarious, some are loners, so are we. Some stake out their territory, so do we we. Some share territory, oddly, so do we. Some fight, even to the death, over Territorial possesion, so do we. Some kill other animals for food, so do we. Some kill other animals for fun, so do we.

Are we really so fundamentally different from the rest of the animal kingdom? I don't think we are. Would we have been fundamentally different without religion? That's the $64,000 question, to which the answer is - YES ............. or NO!

[Bored chemist]

It seems to have been a while since anyone actually looked at the original question. This seems to me to be one of theose  "Religion; Yes or No?" threads that rambles on, never convinces anyone, never prooves anything and, in the end, just risks upsetting people.

Ought we to close it?

[lyner]

You have a point there, BC.
(I'm still right, though!)

[Bored chemist]

Both sides of the debate are "right" from their own point of view. That's why it's not science.

[Don_1]

Ought we to close it?

Agreed. There is no right or wrong.

[lyner]

Both sides of the debate are "right" from their own point of view. That's why it's not science.

BC, you are SUCH a sport sport!
But, as you say, we'll all have to agree to differ.