And the winner of the 10 'Non-Commandments' Contest is:

Kivaro

So there was a competition recently where 10 "non-commandments" were chosen from 2,800 submissions from 18 countries and 27 U.S. states.

1. Be open-minded and be willing to alter your beliefs with new evidence.
2. Strive to understand what is most likely to be true, not to believe what you wish to be true.
3. The scientific method is the most reliable way of understanding the natural world.
4. Every person has the right to control of their body.
5. God is not necessary to be a good person or to live a full and meaningful life.
6. Be mindful of the consequences of all your actions and recognize that you must take responsibility for them.
7. Treat others as you would want them to treat you, and can reasonably expect them to want to be treated. Think about their perspective.
8. We have the responsibility to consider others, including future generations.
9. There is no one right way to live.
10. Leave the world a better place than you found it.

It has been debated here before that generally Atheists do not need rules to follow, but this topic is coming to the fore with a number of media outlets reporting on it. What do you think?

More here.

MrPudding

Kivaro wrote: »

So there was a competition recently where 10 "non-commandments" were chosen from 2,800 submissions from 18 countries and 27 U.S. states.

1. Be open-minded and be willing to alter your beliefs with new evidence.
2. Strive to understand what is most likely to be true, not to believe what you wish to be true.
3. The scientific method is the most reliable way of understanding the natural world.
4. Every person has the right to control of their body.
5. God is not necessary to be a good person or to live a full and meaningful life.
6. Be mindful of the consequences of all your actions and recognize that you must take responsibility for them.
7. Treat others as you would want them to treat you, and can reasonably expect them to want to be treated. Think about their perspective.
8. We have the responsibility to consider others, including future generations.
9. There is no one right way to live.
10. Leave the world a better place than you found it.

It has been debated here before that generally Atheists do not need rules to follow, but this topic is coming to the fore with a number of media outlets reporting on it. What do you think?

More here.

I quite like that. I like it because it is pretty much how I try to live my life. Whilst we may not *need* rules I think this list is useful in that it provides something we can point at to say 'this is how I try to live my life.' It is a useful response to the old 'you don't have a god therefore you can't be good' argument. We can say 'we don't have a god, we don't folllow your stupid commandments, but here the the words we try to live by. Notice the lack of worshipping.' Cool.

MrP

Akrasia

they're not the snappiest of commandments are they.

I prefer the 'Don't be a dick' doctrine along with an encouragement to value beauty and truth.

Peregrinus

How are numbers 1, 2, 6, 7 and 10 not "commandments"?

MrPudding

Peregrinus wrote: »

How are numbers 1, 2, 6, 7 and 10 not "commandments"?

I took it as them being not The Commandments, nit that they weren't necessarily commandments in a more general sense.

MrP

ScumLord

1. The scientific method is the most reliable way of understanding the natural world.

Thou shalt not have false sciences.

Treat others as you would want them to treat you, and can reasonably expect them to want to be treated. Think about their perspective.

Jesus's solicitors will be sending a letter.

They're about as useful as the other ten commandments, bit wishy/washy and unspecific enough to allow them to be interpreted as you want to.

kylith

There's only one commandment in my opinion: Wheaton's Law - Don't be a dick.

Andrewf20

Heres a good watch...

fisgon

ScumLord wrote: »

They're about as useful as the other ten commandments, bit wishy/washy and unspecific enough to allow them to be interpreted as you want to.

Completely disagree with this. Whatever you think about these ten, they are a thousand times better than Moses' ten. Stephen Novella, on the SGU podcast, described the Christian commandments as "arbitrary, primitive, sheep-herder rules", and I think that is spot on.

These new ten just go to illustrate how much the original ten commandments were about power and control in a primitive society. It shows up just how ludicrous the idea is that we should be bound - apart from the obvious about not killing and stealing - by what Moses supposedly got on two stone tablets thousands of years ago.

Pherekydes

kylith wrote: »

There's only one commandment in my opinion: Wheaton's Law - Don't be a dick.

Do you think Russian skinhead thugs think they're being dicks when they're kicking the life out of some gay guy? Nope, they're doing god's work.

Don't be a dick is far too open to interpretation. If you're going to bother with commandments at all they need to be explicit:

Thou shalt not rape children
Thou shalt not steal children from single mothers
Thou shalt not keep slaves

etc.

vibe666

I still think Jim Jeffries said it best.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZJ-_OTvsqo

Peregrinus

Peregrinus wrote: »

How are numbers 1, 2, 6, 7 and 10 not "commandments"?

Because no one is commanding that you do them.

Think the "10 Suggestions"

ScumLord

fisgon wrote: »

Completely disagree with this. Whatever you think about these ten, they are a thousand times better than Moses' ten. Stephen Novella, on the SGU podcast, described the Christian commandments as "arbitrary, primitive, sheep-herder rules", and I think that is spot on.

I wouldn't call them arbitrary, but they were primitive and many of them probably were sheep herders.

For the time they made sense, they may have been somewhat revolutionary. Even the first two commandments about one god could be seen as removing conflict as there's no fighting over who's god is best.

We're well aware of the problems of false idols in todays society with teenagers getting caught up in celebrity, I'm sure they could see the dangers of raising people or things to a level of worship and the problems it can cause.

The rest are fairly basic human rules for a peaceful society.

It's too easy to judge the people back then by our standards today, these people were doing their best with the information they had. They worked out these problems and now we can benefit from thousands of years of them trying all sorts of ways to live together in peace and getting wrong more often than not.

ScumLord

ScumLord wrote: »

I wouldn't call them arbitrary, but they were primitive and many of them probably were sheep herders.

For the time they made sense, they may have been somewhat revolutionary. Even the first two commandments about one god could be seen as removing conflict as there's no fighting over who's god is best.

We're well aware of the problems of false idols in todays society with teenagers getting caught up in celebrity, I'm sure they could see the dangers of raising people or things to a level of worship and the problems it can cause.

The rest are fairly basic human rules for a peaceful society.

It's too easy to judge the people back then by our standards today, these people were doing their best with the information they had. They worked out these problems and now we can benefit from thousands of years of them trying all sorts of ways to live together in peace and getting wrong more often than not.

The problem is not judging them with our standards, it's the people that want to judge us by using the standards of sheep herders from 3000 years ago!!

Kivaro

fisgon wrote: »

Completely disagree with this. Whatever you think about these ten, they are a thousand times better than Moses' ten. Stephen Novella, on the SGU podcast, described the Christian commandments as "arbitrary, primitive, sheep-herder rules", and I think that is spot on.

These new ten just go to illustrate how much the original ten commandments were about power and control in a primitive society. It shows up just how ludicrous the idea is that we should be bound - apart from the obvious about not killing and stealing - by what Moses supposedly got on two stone tablets thousands of years ago.

This is the reason why I started the thread. I understand that some will call the "suggestions" wishy/washy, but think about modern society and those people who have doubts on the validity of their religious beliefs. Putting these 10 up against the ten commandments from thousands of years ago could help them make a common sense (rational) decision on how to live their lives.

Atheism is demonized by many, which comes down a great deal to misunderstanding what it means or misinformation they were provided. At least now, people "on the fence" with their religious beliefs could now see that an alternative to an archaic set of rules is available to them (if they wish to have a set of rules in their lives).

endacl

The Commandment:

Thou shall strive to not be a cnut.

looksee

endacl wrote: »

The Commandment:

Thou shall strive to not be a cnut.

But if you are female...

endacl

looksee wrote: »

But if you are female...

Dunno. I didn't write The Commandment. It was handed down from ages past.

Cnutesse?

Kivaro

kylith wrote: »

There's only one commandment in my opinion: Wheaton's Law - Don't be a dick.

Maybe it was the one and only commandment to begin with.
It was just 'misinterpreted' by Moses.