Morals
How do people who do not have a belief in an almighty power live morally?. Where do your morals come from? Where is the moral foundation of a non-believer?. All good questions, considering the misunderstandings of atheists. Even older versions of Webster's Dictionary quotes atheists as "evil people" Webster, of course, was a devout religious person and might have had something to do with this description.
Here's my thoughts on morality:
First, we have had morals from tens of thousands of years built into us by evolution and before religion ever existed. That's how we have survived so long as a species. In fact, recent studies show that most species of monkeys and even rats have morals, and will starve themselves if their behavior harms their fellow comrade. (see the Skinner experiments) So even mammals in our evolutionary tree had morals even before we were human! Just take a look at the apes on earth - do they kill other apes or hard family members? No. We feel empathy for each other just like many other species do All species might not have survived if they did not have an innate feeling of morality. Just imagine if species within a tribe started killing each other - they would not survive very long! .
Second, non-religious families derive their morals mostly from their family values, not religious ones, although religious values do overlap with the former. Non-religious families derive their morals from the teachings of the family unit, social interaction from an early age, and legal/civil consequences (jail). We, as humans, have an innate instinct of what is wrong and right even with no moral education by society or religion, as shown in cultures that have strong morals but no religion - Japan, for example. Many studies conclude that people in remote villages with no religion and a very small social groups have morals just like the rest of us.
Third, we derive our morals from our pier groups as children. Sometimes this accounts for a greater influence than the parental upbringing. Slapping someone sometimes results very quickly in a returned slap. Pre-teen real world experiences quickly teach morals to our children.
Forth, I find that those who are curious about exploring this issue are contemplating more than most people do about the subject and discover that morals and ethics can be broken down into very small definitive ideas, each of which can be explained very simply, but as a whole, defines our morals. Read the chapter of morals in "The God Delusion". Read it - even if you are a devout Christian. You will be surprised how Dawkins explains in simple terms, how we define our morals.
There is a good test of morality in our society. Can you think of where people who lie, cheat, steal and murder are in society? It's the prisons. Prisons are where people of low moral stature are incarcerated. Why are there only .2% of atheists in prisons compared to 75% of Christians? if you're a Christian, you might respond, "those in prison aren't really Christian" How do you know that? - the fact is that no one knows what is in the mind of another. There are also far fewer non-believing Buddhists in prison compared to the Buddhist population and they do not believe in God either. I encourage you to look these studies up for yourself on the net.
One Christian argument for the appearance of increase in crime is that American society has less traditional values than in the past. This is a direct contradiction, especially to Christians because there are more Christians in America than ever before! If there are more Christians and they say they have better morals than non-Christians, then why is there less traditional values? Why are there more people in prison than ever before? Also the crime rates have not significantly increase or decreased for many decades. Crime is down from 40 years ago Goggle "us crime rates past 40 years"
Finally, if religion was hypothetically taken away from any society, studies show that their behavior will not change. People will not start raping and pillaging, stealing or cheating, simply because they have lost or changed their religion. People are moral without religion, and in many instances, more moral.
Many atheists feel it is the harder choice to not have a 'moral rule book' in their lives. Atheists take each situation separately and decide what is the moral thing to do. Many times it is very ethical to lie or cheat - for example, to defend your family, or to protect an innocent person. Some say this is a harder choice because atheists have to look at Christian's value system as will as everyone else and decide if their choices are moral. This is another reason I have chosen to be an atheist. the Bible has so many unethical an immoral stories of death and destruction - it boggles the mind how Christians can believe such nonsense. See Numbers 31 and tell me that the taking of virgins for sex slaves is ethical. Amazing!
Many Christian ask me "why don't you just go out and commit crime if there is no afterlife?" What a silly question! I could ask them - "If you, for one day, did not believe in an afterlife or God or Jesus - would that change your behavior? NO. Of course it wouldn't. This question can be asked right back at the Christian - "Since you believe that ALL sins can be forgiven if you accept Jesus, then why don't you commit crime and disrespect your fellow human being now, then at the end of you like, accept Jesus and all your sins will be forgiven?" And - if Hitler repented and gave his life to Jesus - he would go to your mythical heaven while all 3 million Jews would go to your mythical hell?!?!
Another good point here: Christian's say that God's morals are absolute. But they aren't! If you go back 500 years and see what the Christian's were calling moral you'd see an entirely different set of values. Slavery was moral., Women's rights were non-existent. There was a monotheistic government and now most governments are Secular (a pagan idea). Abortion was a bad thing but not immoral. God's morals, if absolute, should be the same no matter what is in vogue at the time. This is clear proof that God doesn't make up a moral system, man does.
Bottom line - you do not need any belief in a supernatural power to be a good person and lead a moral and fulfilling life. See the end of "Arguments for Atheism" page here to see what atheism and skepticism have to offer.
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