Adam Lee: The Abraham Test 亞伯拉罕的道德問題

[Alex]

The Abraham Test
Adam Lee
February 10, 2012
http://bigthink.com/ideas/42385

The story of Abraham's near-sacrifice of his son on Mount Moriah is one of the formative myths of Western monotheism. And most theists of the Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions look up to Abraham as a model of faith, believing that his willingness to kill his own child in obedience to God's command is a praiseworthy character trait. But as I wrote in "A Book of Blood":

"That the sacrifice was not actually carried out does not change the moral revulsion we should feel at this episode. What kind of god would demand a man prove his obedience by murdering his only son? And more so, what kind of man would obey such a command? Abraham has been held up as an archetype by Judaism, Christianity and Islam alike, but is this really the sort of behavior we should strive to emulate - the willingness to kill in God's name? Had I been in Abraham's place, I would have thrown away that knife and let Jehovah know, in no uncertain terms, that I would never serve any deity who demanded such a price. And had I been in God's place, that is exactly the response I would have rewarded.

"But no. The God of the Bible rewarded - blessed, actually - a man who would have slit the throat of his son on command. Evidently, this is the quality Jehovah values - not humanistic morality, not an unshakable respect for human life, but a willingness to lay one's conscience aside and blindly obey."

Going further with this, I have a question for every religious believer, based on the Abraham episode: Do you believe that violence in God's name is wrong, or do you merely believe he hasn't personally told you to do violence? If God appeared to you and spoke to you, commanding you to commit a violent act - to murder a child, say - how would you respond?

If your answer is that you'd never commit an act of unprovoked violence against another human being, no matter who told you to do it, then congratulations! You're a better person than the character of Abraham and possess a more developed moral sense than the author of that story, and you ought to be applauded for that. It's that kind of rational, humanistic morality that's led humanity out of the dark ages of bloodshed and tribal warfare fossilized in the pages of the Bible.  ...



Alex's comment:  

反省亞伯拉罕的道德問題

在《聖經》中，上帝示意亞伯拉罕殺獨子獻祭，他虔誠地照做，到最後一刻才被上帝叫停，免了兒子之死，亞伯拉罕於是被譽為「信心之父」，直到今日。

只要稍作反省，不難察覺該故事引發的嚴重道德問題。亞伯拉罕實在是企圖謀殺。雖然動機是宗教熱誠、對象是自己的兒子、最終亦沒有成事，企圖謀殺仍然是不道德的。上帝讚揚亞伯拉罕有「信心」（實是企圖謀殺），是不道德的。猶太-基督-伊斯蘭宗教群奉亞伯拉罕為「信心之父」（實是企圖謀殺犯），是不道德的。

該故事想歌頌將上帝置於首位，願意為祂犧牲一切的虔誠之心，本來無可厚非。但當那個「一切」一旦涉及他人的人命，道德考慮便完全不同了，因為「犧牲」的是別人的性命，會變成殺人。

一個常見的迷思是這樣的：上帝的道德觀是絕對的，所以，上帝殺人，是對的，上帝指示殺人，也是對的。這個想法非常危險。雖然「上帝的指示」往往是人的誤會，但一旦相信「上帝之殺人指示是對的」，人命便立時變得次要，打開了以上帝之名殺人的極危險之門。歷史例子多不勝數，今天仍在發生，宗教恐怖襲擊，仍然持續。

要避免以上帝之名殺人，正確的道德標準是這樣的：無論誰，即使是上帝，叫你以暴力對待別人，你也應該拒絕，以他人的性命為最高價值，高過上帝。人命高於上帝，是人文主義倫理。讓我們珍惜良心，維護道德，向血腥的《聖經》倫理說不，發揚人文主義倫理，共建更安全的人道世界。

[Alex]

Kierkegaard and crazy leaps of faith
February 12, 2012
Church of the Churchless

"A leap of faith is what allowed Charles Manson to convince his followers to commit multiple murders. A leap of faith is what allowed over 900 People's Temple followers of Jim Jones to kill themselves by ingesting cyanide.
 
"Leaps of faith are dangerous. They can kill you. Or others."



Alex's comment:  沒想過。原來祈克果的「信心的縱躍」是如此危險、不道德的。「信心」是邪惡；「懷疑」是美德。