[QUOTE=Captain Amazing]
Putting aside rhetorical or political usages of the term, though, groups can have a set of values associated with them, and when we’re talking about philosophies/religions, they almost always have a system of morality associated with them.
Compassion for the poor and marital fidelity aren’t “atheist values” because there’s no organized atheist group in the same way that there is Christianity. They’re your values, and you’re an atheist, but if I cheated on my wife and kicked poor people, you might say, “Captain Amazing is a bad person.”, but you certainly wouldn’t say, “Captain Amazing isn’t living up to his atheist principles.”. It wouldn’t make much sense. But, back when Pat Robertson, if you remember, said that hurricanes should hit Florida because Disneyworld had that Gay Day, I heard people saying, “That’s not very Christian of him.”, and everybody understood what that meant.
To make an analogy, let’s look at the Boy Scouts. If you remember, “A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.”
Now, it’s true that not all boy scouts have those traits, and it’s certainly true that there are people who aren’t boy scouts who do have those traits. But those are the values of the Boy Scouts…they’re the values the Boy Scouts try to instill in their members. Just because those are the values of another group as well doesn’t mean they aren’t Boy Scout values.
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Except nobody uses that term and with good reason.
I acknowledge that there are values and principles taught within Christianity just as there are certain values and principles taught within the Boy Scouts or other organizations. I think it’s important to see that the organization is merely a vehicle or method for teaching those fairly universal principles.
We could say certain behavior , even by an atheist was “unchristian” and people would get the reference. It’s how the term is used and the purpose for it’s use that I’m referring to.
When communicating with others , especially communication intended for those not of your group, then let’s speak of the values as the primary importance rather than using a descriptor designed to to focus on a particular group.
So the principles of liberty and justice for all, equal rights, the pursuit of happiness etc might be principles that all people can embrace regardless of any group affiliation , by abandoning that language and choosing the term “Christian principles and values” we are choosing a language specifically designed to divide rather than unite.