How does an atheist define morality? (priest, reject, Kingdom, Jesus)

[chielgirl]

Even little kids grow out of the belief in santa clause. Rational thinking does take hold at some point, at least with some people.

[MontanaGuy]

I don't need the threat of eternal damnation hanging over my head to have morals and good ethics. I've heard people suggest that atheists choose to be atheists so they can do whatever they want and not be accountable to anyone. I've never felt that way and my atheism is simply based on the fact that it seems very apparent that God does not exist.

[Mooseketeer]

Moral and Ethics have nothing to do with god and a belief in a deity.
My moral compass is guide by my conscience and sense of ethics. What is right and what is wrong.

I need no god to teach me about morality. I am responsible for my actions and am accountable to myself , usually the harshest judge around.

I try to be as good, kind and considerate as I can, try to be thoughtful and compassionate. I feel empathy towards others and therefore like most human beings understand what consequences my actions have on other people.

We all know what is right and what is wrong ( apart from some very, very few people who are truly amoral). God is not a pre-requisite for good judgement, kindness and tolerance. Love is not subject to some divine intervention.

Atheists are no less moral than believers and in fact in my experience many are far more moral, honest and less hypocritical.

Believing in the bible has no bearing on your moral character.

[yydanay515]

Originally Posted by Mooseketeer

Moral and Ethics have nothing to do with god and a belief in a deity.
My moral compass is guide by my conscience and sense of ethics. What is right and what is wrong.

I need no god to teach me about morality. I am responsible for my actions and am accountable to myself , usually the harshest judge around.

I try to be as good, kind and considerate as I can, try to be thoughtful and compassionate. I feel empathy towards others and therefore like most human beings understand what consequences my actions have on other people.

We all know what is right and what is wrong ( apart from some very, very few people who are truly amoral). God is not a pre-requisite for good judgement, kindness and tolerance. Love is not subject to some divine intervention.

Atheists are no less moral than believers and in fact in my experience many are far more moral, honest and less hypocritical.

Believing in the bible has no bearing on your moral character.

Good post!

[truckingbronco]

Originally Posted by chielgirl

Even little kids grow out of the belief in santa clause. Rational thinking does take hold at some point, at least with some people.

My post was meant to be taken with a heavy dose of sarcasm.

[GCSTroop]

Originally Posted by JViello

Okay let me rephrase that.

Does an atheist believe in objective morality? (Right or wrong regardless of whether you believe it or not.


Absolutes regarding right or wrong.

If so, where does that basis for said morality come from?

Nature?

Saying it's from your parents is really not an acceptable answer and will be followed up with "where did they get it from".

Well, I certainly hope that you are not implying that the only thing that keeps you from murdering scores of people is your belief in God. Is that true? If not, why don't you do it than?


Regardless, you asked if nature gives us some sort of 'morality'. Well, in a way, I view morality as an evolved thing. A lot of animals require a certain amount of reciprocity to further their gene pool. Doing something nice for your neighbor can, in return, get something nice done for you, and in return, will help everyone out. Keep in mind, that this was a function more necessary for early man when he lived in small groups of 6-10 people. Everyone was a potential reciprocator, and due to that, everyone depended on everyone for survival. Of course, if you don't understand evolution you probably wouldn't 'get it' anyway.

Similarly, as I have not gotten to post a lot lately, I would like to add that atheism is not really a belief system for ME. I'm not speaking for anyone else here. However, I can look at the world (and universe of course) and say I am 99.9% certain that God (in any shape or form) does not exist and therefore I am .1% 'believing' that God does not exist, the rest is a firm conviction based on evidence.

To sum it up, and I have posted this before, I'd like to post two of my favorite quotes:

"Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it, you'd have good people doing good things and evil people doing bad things, but for good people to do bad things, it takes religion.” -Steven Weinberg

Atheism is as much a religion as not collecting stamps is a hobby.- Anonymous

[chielgirl]

Originally Posted by truckingbronco

My post was meant to be taken with a heavy dose of sarcasm.

I took it that way, but felt the need to repeat it. Seems to me that JV requires the same response at least a dozen times before s/he moves on.

[Kereczr]

Originally Posted by JViello

I'm curious what dictates your right and wrong?

Nature?

Government laws?

God? (Just seeing if you are awake. )

Ever heard of something called "the social contract" look into it

[Kereczr]

Originally Posted by JViello

Okay let me rephrase that.

Does an atheist believe in objective morality? (Right or wrong regardless of whether you believe it or not)

Absolutes regarding right or wrong.

If so, where does that basis for said morality come from?

Nature?

Saying it's from your parents is really not an acceptable answer and will be followed up with "where did they get it from".

Well let me ask YOU a question...do you behave a certain way, right and wrong, simply because of what you've read in your bible? For fear of going to hell? How is it that we've come to determine that slavery is wrong? There certainly wasn't any mention of slavery being wrong in the bible, on the contrary it actually contains regulations for slavery, in a way...validating slavery. Also, the same could be said about women being inferior, murder, war, rape, etc.

[gnab gib]

Originally Posted by truckingbronco

I think his intentions are pretty transparent, but his constant quote mining and issue baiting are kind of entertaining.

It's fun for a while, but it gets old fast. I used to hang out at Yahoo! Answers, on the religion/spirituality forum. I went there mostly to discuss Buddhism, and to see if people had any answers about spirituality that I might be able to help with. But 99% of the time, the conversation got hijacked by Christians who were interested in nothing but trying to bait atheists (or, as they always seemed to call them, "Athiest," always capped, always with the letters transposed, always singular) with the same tired questions, over and over and over. (My favorite, which came up at least once an hour, was "Athiest: Why are you here?" As if people can't have an interest in spirituality without believing in the Christian God.) No answer, however well articulated, ever seemed to be good enough. After a while, you just stop trying and burn out on the whole thing, because you realize they aren't there to ask questions and learn ... they're just there to badger and needle people. WWJD?