Originally Posted by
joesixpack
Like Bob Dylan said, "If you live outside the law, you must be honest." It's quite allright for you to disobey the laws of man, but don't pretend that you won't have to pay the consequences. If you want to kill the man who raped and killed your daughter then you have to be willing to go to jail for first degree murder (I think I would be willing to if I had no doubt as to the culprits identity). If you think you should get a pass because you think the laws of man are unjust, then you have another think coming. You will have to "give unto Ceaser" as someone else here so wisely said. Epictitus, the stoic, had a lot to say about this. You'd find his writings very interesting and I recommend looking him up sometime.
It's a question of how strong your beliefs really are. Are you willing to pay the price for those beliefs? If not, then you have to ask yourself what you DO believe in.
Secondly, I would take issue with the assertion that morality is derived from religious faith. Nothing could be further from the truth. Do you really think that the Israelites thought that lying, stealing, and murder were OK before Moses came down from the mountain with the tablets? Of course not, no society can exist and prosper without it's members being fair, kind, and honest. You don't have to look too hard to find examples of people using religion as an rationale for doing some very horrible things, and I could point you to a lot of atheists who are very moral and upright people.