Where Do Atheists Get Their Morality?
There is a common misconception among the theists of this world that atheists must lack morality. This misconception is based on their false assumption that morality comes from their religion, Though this is obviously nonsense, unless we are to assume that 2000 years ago it was ok to steal, kill and rape. The Romans had civilisation and laws long before christianity and islam reared their ugly heads on this unfortunate planet.
A passing glance at the bible it's self shows us that morality can not be based in religious scripture, Unless you think selling your daughter into slavery is ok and owning slaves is ok. Two things which are the opposite of moral.
So where do atheists get their morality from? The answer is simple. We get it from the same place the religious do. Morality is just another way of describing behaviour that is conducive with a productive and cohesive society. Humans are social animals and we have been for some time. And like other social animals it is seen as unproductive to cause unnecessary unrest. When asked "if you don't believe in god what is stopping you from killing someone?" i always answer "why would i want to kill someone?". We don't do things based on what is stopping us. We do things based on it being either productive or enjoyable. Just like honey bees can congregate in a hive numbering into the millions. So why don't they kill each other? because then there would be no honey. And if the honey bee had the neuron capacity to philosophise or ponder they would no doubt question why they have this need, This hardwired behavioral trait, That makes them unlikely to kill randomly for no reason.
Morality is also an ever-shifting zeitgeist. What is seen as immoral today wasn't immoral 1000 years ago, And in the future what we are doing now may be considered immoral, Things like burning fossil fuel for example. If morality is divinely given it wouldn't change based on societies perception of what is acceptable. If god gave us morality then what is wrong now would always have been wrong and what will be wrong in the future will be wrong now. We only have to go back to 1928 in England, To a time when women were not granted the vote, To see how far the moral zeitgeist can shift in such a short amount of time. If morality is from god it would not shift according to social perceptions.
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9 comments:
I agree with your point. Often I am asked where I get my morales from if I do not get them from church.
It's called education. It is the duty of every parent. If the church helps, so be it. But religion is not necessarily a requirement.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=558414&in_page_id=1811
There's religious morality for you right there. This is somewhat unrelated but I think it's worth bringing up anyway.
Atheism is a religion, every religion has it's own sets of rules and religious beliefs.
No definition of religion describes atheism. Saying atheism is a religion is like saying good health is a sickness.
clinton, is not collecting stamps a hobby? Is not playing sports a sport? You're saying not believing is a belief. What a pathetic argument.
I've used this line of thought for years but have yet to make any headway with any person who "has religion"; they just can't handle the concept of an a-religious morality. They will argue for example that I must have acquired my morals from the Christian society in which I was raised. Take away the "Christian" and they're right, but that doesn't identify whether morals have their roots in society or religion. But the moving moral goalposts of religion confirm for me what reason dictates.
The reality is that religions adopt (and always have adopted)their morals from society, not the other way round. And as societies change, so do religions - or they lose ground. A compelling reason for religions to resist change - when they can.
You say humans are social animals yet they should be the ones to say whats moral? Ouch, we have a bunch of animals creating morals.
How can someone that does not believe in God, believe that their Morals come from God, since to them he does not exist. However for a Christian who believes God created man and man was made from God's image, and hence we get our basic morals, it makes perfect sense.
Sure we see religions shift their morals to fit society, but the basic morals that Christ has given man to live by has not changed. Love God and thy neighbor.
What does women's right to vote have to do with Christianity?? Society can evolve and I hope we continue to become more loving of one another, so that slavery, and other bias hatred is removed, but does that mean man morals did not come from God?
God gave man free will to live as he thinks best, but God also gave us morals and instructions on how to live our lives.
I so agree with KeithD with his argument about morality.
I kind of disagree with the answer you give when someone asks "whats stopping you from killing someone?", because if I gave you some reasons to kill a person (like money, sex, food, etc...) and it became enjoyable or beneficial to actually kill someone I would hope you would still have the moral capacity not to kill someone even if it is beneficial or "productive".
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