Are people inherently evil?

[Qwark]

DevilRising said:
I have never believed that babies/children are "inherently evil", and I think it's morally wrong of certain religions to teach that. I think that we're all born with natural survival instincts, sure. But humans are also naturally a pack/community creature, it is ingrained in our fabric to socialize and work together for mutual survival. Any kid can be bratty and selfish at times, yes. But I've also seen enough of children to know that generally speaking, unless they have a bad home life or explicitly bad (abusive, absentee or overly spoiled) parenting, left to their own devices I think kids tend to be nicer to each other, and share, have empathy, etc. I think that NOT having empathy, having selfish tendencies, bullying/mean-spirtedness, prejudice/bigotry, etc., those are learned traits. Most especially inside the home, from their parents and families, but also from other kids, television, and society in general.

I think most "evil" or selfish, bad behaviors are learned. Not 100%, but most.

You can be born as a psychopath and litteraly don't comprehend compassion. Besides most sociopaths need to be triggered to really become a sociopath and that's induced by a social trauma caused by bullying/abuse etc. A sociopath is indeed made not born and there brains simply don't or bately react towards situations that requires empathy. Nearly 4% of the world has an antisocial personality disorder, but that's still no reason to act like an ass though. It just explains why some people lack empathy and in general just don't care about another.