Examples of non-Christian Moral systems.

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Just curious what atrocities are the Jews responsible for?

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Palestine.

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That was my point. USSR, an athiest state, perpetrated some of the most heinous acts of murder and genocide in the 20th century.

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That seems like much the same kind of alarmist generalisation you're criticising, though. In the same period, the West was presiding over many atrocities as well (topically, those of Saddam Hussein for example), but these are seldom acknowledged, and sometimes falsely attributed (Pol Pot being a prime example).

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1- What the hell are you talking about?

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Moral relatavism

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2-Have you even read this thread?

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Yes, just did

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3-Are you saying Pol Pott had no responsibility for the deaths of nearly 3 million people?

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No, I'm saying that the CIA needs to take responsibility for the actions of their plant.

A comment on Shinto. I'm not an expert, but do have some tangential familiarity with it. I think Shinto can be said to be amoral, on the basis that it is much more a sort of praxis for dealing with the world - including a presumed spiritual world - more than a set of guidelines are instructions for moral behaviour. Those concenrs are almost at right angles to Shinto.I kinda disagree though that Shinto is in any meaningful sense a constributing factor to any atrocities perpetrated by Japan, however: I feel that blame is better laid at the feet of martial zen buddhism, ironically.

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I understand why you hate the US, I would too if I weren't a citizen of the greatest free republic on the face of the earth; so I certainly don't blame your envy.

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... yes, you are just as confident as the creationists who tell me I "hate god"; it only indicates your recognise the weakness of your position. I point out that under the present legal status, I have more rights than you do, notably Habeas Corpus.

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I gave him several examples including the Soviet Union as examples of non-Judaic nations that created conflict. Your comment was a non-sequiter.

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Right, and predictably, you attributed to the USSR things for which it was not responsible; that is all that I was pointing out. Quite a lot of that has gone on precisely becuase of the overlap between religion and the right in the US, based on the "certain knowledge" that the USSR was immoral do to its formal atheism.

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If there was different kinds of slavery, then not all slavery would be the same. There was many rules about slavery. I also stated that I am not an expert on it, so I shouldn't be talking about it I guess.

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I'd just like to remark that in this regard at least, riVeRrat is correct; not all forms of slavery are chattel slavery, and not all of them exhibit the same details. Referring to 19th. C chattel slavery is essentially a colloquialism. Roman law allowed a child to kinda divorce their parents if they were sold into slavery three times; its pretty clear this cannto be the same kind of slavery as was practiced in the trans-atlantic triangle trade.

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The subject of this thread is on examples of Non-Christian Moral systems. Within that context, Shintoism is unique in the fact that it has as a basic tenet that there is no difference between good and evil.

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So far we have not really addressed that issue. I had hoped that there might be some members more knowledgable about Shintoism. I must admit that I have always had a hard time reconciling the basic portions with those of any other moral system I am familar with.

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Most pre-civilised moral systems are very clear on what constitutes good, and what evil: good is that which helps Us, and evil is that which hinders Us. I think Shinto would fall into that camp.Christianity and related faiths - includings its Zorastran predecessor in this regard - seem to introduce these huge abstrract concepts of Good and Evil mainly, IMO, as a mechanism of moral criticism. Its mostly fear-mongering for the purpose of rulership.In this regard, I consdier moral system which exhibit good and evil as substantially inferior to moral systems which do not. Because the definitions of good and evil are inevitably self-serving under a cloak of universality.--As to Zen and the Samurai, I disagree quite significantly. Martial zen, while by no means a universal cult, did do a much better job of constructing a satisfying worldview for the Samurai than Shinto did. It has aspects to it rather similar to Stoicism and I think this appealed to the martial caste. But whether this is true zen or distorted zen is something zennists debate.