Tract #21: Should I Follow the Golden Rule
Published June 22nd, 2009Tract #21, Should I Follow the Golden Rule?, is ready for you to download and review. Download it, see page #3 for printing instructions, and let me know your comments! Thanks!
Should I Follow the Golden Rule?
The Golden Rule states that you should treat others in the way you would like them to treat you. This sounds like a good piece of ethical advice, but should the moral atheist rely on it?
The Golden Rule has been around for centuries and it has been used in one form or another in many cultures. Unfortunately, it has a problems.
Because it is a little vague, the Golden Rule has the potential to be misleading. For example, by a literal reading of the Golden Rule:
If parents would not want to be treated like children, they should not treat their young offspring like children.
If a man wants a woman to hug him, he should hug her.
A Christian should treat an atheist like a Christian (and vice versa).
A woman should treat a man like a woman.
A masochist should act like a sadist.
A self-destructive person should attack people.
Some of these examples point out that projecting your desires onto other people isn’t always the correct path to acceptable behavior. This is because the Golden Rule deals only with behavior and not with the thought behind that behavior.
Perhaps the Golden Rule would be more globally valid if it were phrased, “You should treat others in the way you would like them to treat you if you were in their place.” That’s a little more difficult to wrap your head around, but it leads to far fewer problems.
Hugo on June 26, 2009
The link to the pdf is not working for this one.
ideclare on June 26, 2009
It should work now. Thanks!