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| Just Because A Person Is Atheist Doesn't Mean They Have No Morals. |
| I can't begin to tell you how many times I have seen people say that atheist have no morals; this is completely false. I've been an atheist for years and I have better morals and judgement then some theist that are around me. I respect other peoples beliefs, and I don't throw my beliefs in other peoples faces. |
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I believe that anyone who fails to thoroughly examine their own moral code and define their own
ethics by just accepting a morality handed to them by someone else is guilty of the gravest failing.
The best and only hope for our species is if each and every one of us approaches the philosophy of
life as their life’s goal. And quite frankly I think that often religion hinders and retards that
effort. The religious often (not always but often) suffer under the hubris that they are right and
everyone else is wrong. Most atheist I have known have spent a lot of time soul searching (pardon
the irony) to come to their conclusions and tend to have a very well considered and developed moral
code. |
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Yes. I was once an atheist myself. I had better morals than any christian I met.
Better morals even than as a now-christian...........;-)
Morals are a separate issue than religious adherence.
Your views, and beliefs are not your moral tendencies or legal conduct.
Religion and morals are separate. |
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The big lie told by christians (thus violating one of their "ten commandments") is that "Yuh
hafta be krisjin tuh be murral!" If by "moral" that means christian groups and movements like the
Inquisition, the crusades, centuries of anti-semitism and eventual Nazism, not to mention the KKK,
then yes, christians are "moral".
A christian who behaves ethically does it to avoid having his rear end fried and buggered for
eternity. He doesn't do it because it's the right thing to do, they're doing it out of selfish
self-preservation. And often as not, when christians claim to do charity, they only do it for the
opportunity to proselytize. Real charity is given without conditions, and that means real charity
is given without religion attached.
Atheists behave morally and do so for no reason. If there is any selfishness in atheist morality,
it's that we want to live in a moral world - if you want to live in a civilized society, you have to
make it one. But at least there is no false pretense of doing good for others to obtain "eternal
brownie points with god".
That certainly explains why atheists made up only 0.2% of the US prison population (in a 1997
study by the US bureau of prisons) as compared to the 5-15% in the entire US population (i.e.
That means atheists are at least 10 times less likely to be criminals).
Http://freethoughtpedia.com/wiki/Percentage_of_atheists
http://holysmoke.org/icr-pri.htm
Noticeably, the only "religious" group that makes up more than 1% of the US general population but
less than 1% of the prison population is atheists. All other religious groups are
OVERrepresented by their percentages of the US population. |
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 K9  26 Apr 2008 18:22
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Atheists are still humans with morals and they just don't have a religion. Why would not having a
religion make not human? It doesn't. |
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I must also say that I cannot see why anyone would think otherwise. Why would being an Atheist make
you cold and callous. Why would being religious make one more moralistic. Sure there are good
teachings in the new testament but none that could not be found in a multitude of other sources.
Guidance can come as much, probably more so, from parents as opposed to preachers.
Morals were around long before the life of Jesus and change over time, they are more a cultural
thing anyway. (I chose the example of Christianity simply because that it the dominant religion on
this site).
The fear factor of Hell is the only other reason I could imagine as to why someone would think this,
but my fear factor comes from wanting to avoid endless sleepless nights. |
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I’m not quite sure why someone would claim that an atheist doesn’t have morals, but regardless,
I must say that I agree with this topic's heading. The term “moral”, although it has multiple
definitions, is most formally defined in the dictionary as “regarding in terms of what is known to
be right or just, as opposed to what is officially or outwardly declared to be right or just”. By
this definition, the word “morals” can apply to anyone with conscious thought, not simply
someone who has religious ties to the supernatural. |
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Common sense and practical experience tells us that this is so. We have all seen apparently devout
people who were later revealed to have engaged in base and immoral acts; conversely, we have all
seen confirmed atheists who radiate goodness and decency.
The religious believers on the other side of this debate who claim that morality is based on the
code of conduct prescribed by an invisible magical being, and that those of us who do not believe in
the invisible magical being must therefore somehow be immoral or amoral need to answer this : Why
are you kind to animals?
Your religious codes say nothing about being kind to animals. You claim that your decent treatment
of other people is based on your religiously-prescribed moral code, that your base, antisocial or
violent impulses towards other humans are somehow held in check by this moral code. If that is the
case, we could expect to see you unleash your natural evilness against animals since the code
doesn't cover them. Why don't we read in the news about gangs of evil Christians going round
massacring stray cats and dogs then?
The answer is that your hypothesis is rubbish and all of us have a natural instinct of empathy for
our fellow creatures, humans as well as animals. It is an instinct which has been honed by evolution
and it, not magical codes handed down by the great sky being, forms the basis of our morality. |
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I believe that atheists can have morals, but they have no common sense. Most atheists are very
insecure people. They are always worried about what other people think about them. They evidently
are not proud of who they are or they would not always be so worried about what other people think
about them. They are guilty, which exactly how they should feel. God is great. Hopefully, one day
you will see how great God is and turn to him. You are lucky that he forgives. All you have to do is
trust in him and have faith and everything in your life would be okay. If you did that, you would
not feel so guilty and worry about what other people think about you all the time. |
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Atheists can have a strong sense of morality, just like believers can, but perhaps those with no
faith in God should ask themselves where this sense of right or wrong comes from and why it has been
present through time. In many cases, atheists will point to a tradition of secular humanism when it
comes to morality, which has certainly been a force in Europe, starting from the late eighteenth
century.
Yet one should dig a bit deeper than this and try to determine why humans have a sense of right and
wrong in the first place. Why do people from vastly different cultures and backgrounds often hold
such similar views when it comes to the most basic elements of morality--namely that killing,
stealing, cheating and abusing are all ultimately wrong? I would argue that this shared sense of
morality--present through time--is the best evidence we have for the existence of God. |
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