| Socrates was very concerned about the stories of the gods that people repeated. He objected to Zeus being an adulter, because he thought this was a bad role model. Personally, I think the old testament God, who is jealous, fearsome, punishing and has favorites is, a bad role model of men. Jesus speaks of a very different God, who is loving and forgiving.
I do not think we speak of Zeus or the old testament God as evil, although they have bad qualities. I think historically evil has been a destructive force. Such a force has existed in many cultures and is associated with making sick and their deaths. This resulted in effective treatments of disease, and blocked the scientific investigation into disease. This understanding of evil which also comes with Christianity, has been very problematic in the past. Christians attempted to beat the devil out of their children. This method of child rearing cause by ignorance and superstition, is what we call abuse tonight. I think the supersititous believe of evil and fear of God, has a negative effect on humans.
To up date this, todays TV is extremely harmful. In the past we had villians and heros, and these movies had there faults, however, I think todays steady diet of either extremely superfacial comedies, or shows about hunting down the murderer are so mindless! Espcially in the slums where this hostile behavior is accepted as a definition of reality, I think the effect is harmful. Kids carrying guns, think this is the way the world is, and do not have a good concept of a different reality. Not good. |