True, it seems like a distortion, but up until the last century it worked in conjunction with Christianity. Now that the Enlightenment Liberals have essentially defeated and removed religion, we're seeing the results. Humans are not by nature rational beings, we are rationalizing beings. Our values are mostly formed during childhood. We fool ourselves when we believe that as adults we are able to choose our own value systems. We just superficially modify our existing values, typically through contrairianism. That being said, every rational Western atheist was raised in an essentially Christian society based on Christian values. They've absorbed those societal values through osmosis, but will not acknowledge it, claiming it's superiority of their reasoning. The truth is, as many Objectivists figured out, is that reason alone cannot create a practical value base or morality. Some sort of initial dogmatic first principles are required.
True, it seems like a distortion, but up until the last century it worked in conjunction with Christianity. Now that the Enlightenment Liberals have essentially defeated and removed religion, we're seeing the results. Humans are not by nature rational beings, we are rationalizing beings. Our values are mostly formed during childhood. We fool ourselves when we believe that as adults we are able to choose our own value systems. We just superficially modify our existing values, typically through contrairianism. That being said, every rational Western atheist was raised in an essentially Christian society based on Christian values. They've absorbed those societal values through osmosis, but will not acknowledge it, claiming it's superiority of their reasoning. The truth is, as many Objectivists figured out, is that reason alone cannot create a practical value base or morality. Some sort of initial dogmatic first principles are required.