Atheists where to do you get your definition....?

Question

Being someone who has always believed in God (but is constantly trying to understand other perspectives) I have yet to be able to understand how Atheists talk about progress, right and wrong, and Good and Evil.

If there is no creator who defines Right vs. Wrong?

Good vs. Evil?

Or what progress is?

I would really like to know where you get your moral compass from if it's not from God.

I really appreciate your answers but I want a bit more detail.

If "God" didn't define right and wrong, who did and why should you follow that definition?

I agree right and wrong is obvious but if why? Couldn't they just as easily be arbitrary concepts? What makes then absolutes?

Answer 1

There are many questions here, so I'm going to have to just pick and choose which ones I answer in the interest of space.

Firstly, being an atheist simply means "I do not believe in god." Nothing more. So ignore those atheists out there who are like "atheism has made life so great for me and it allows me to be ethical and yada yada..." They speak for themselves. Atheism is simply a lack of belief in god. What an atheist does in terms of adding a worldview and ethical concepts on top of that is up to them.

That being said, this question is a paraphrase of another question that used to be debated as far back as Socrates. "Is murder wrong because God says it's wrong, or does God say murder is wrong because it's wrong?"

One implies that a moral standard exists seperate from God, the other does not. (For example, if God commands murder, does that make murder "right"? Or is it still "wrong"?)

Christians, although they claim morality comes from god, in practice tend to concede to a seperate human standard. This can be seen in matters where there is no clear Biblical direction (for example, is it moral to give painkillers until death), or where Biblical direction is patently absurd (for example, the "abomination" of eating shellfish). In these cases, Christians tend to extrapolate, interpret, or just ignore. This implies that each Christian has a moral standard, seperate from god, by which they evaluate the "rightness" of Biblical words.

In addition, by calling their God "good," the Christian must necessarily be making a reference to an external standard of goodness. Otherwise, it doesn't mean anything to call god good, if goodness is defined by being god. (It's redundant, circular logic.)

As for where a moral compass comes from, my opinion is that natural human empathy plays the biggest role. The "Golden Rule," which dates as far back as ancient Egyptian writings and Confucius (thousands of years before Christ), is probably the most long-standing and universally agreeable philosophical statement in mankind. This statement, also called the Law of Reciprocity or the Fairness Law, is really a statement of human empathy. The statement "Don't do anything to others that you wouldn't want done to you" assumes that you are able to put yourself in other people's shoes, so to speak, and see things from their perspective. In other words, it assumes you can empathize. The universality of this maxim is a testament to the universality of human empathy, and I think the sense of morality comes from that.

Hope that helps. I realize there are more questions you asked but I tried to get at the most fundamental ones.

Answer 2

Concepts of right and wrong are not absolutes. Values evolve with societies.

Consider the meat industry, as an example. Over time, in America, and in other countries, laws have evolved to try and create humane conditions, even for animals bound for slaughter.

That's not a value God has anything to do with. In fact, many theists take the viewpoint that animals exist solely for mankind's use. It's a value that came into being because people who love animals believe it's wrong to hurt them, and keep trying to change the way others perceive them.

I'm just using that as an example; how you feel about animals yourself isn't the issue. My point is, we each have the ability to suffer, so we can decide not to inflict pain. We each want to live, so we can decide not to kill. We want to be liked, so we try to play nice so we can have friends, etc.

Your question makes it sound as though you doubt your own ability to determine right and wrong without God. Yours is not the first such question I've seen posted, and I find the implications disturbing. Try to believe in yourself a little more; there is trial and error involved in learning how to get through life, but knowing you, yourself, want to be treated well by those you interact with, should give you an idea of how to behave toward them in turn. The religion you subscribe to, or the deity you worship, should not alter that.

Answer 3

I find it disturbing that the only thing that keeps some religious people, like you, only refrain from killing, stealing and raping out of fear of god. Scary.

My 4 year old has no notion of god and a great set of morals. She just likes it when people are nice. I think they call it the golden rule. You know, do unto others.... It was around long before the bible. or whatever book you read. Cling to it though. I would hate to see you run off killing people. Though you always just ask god for forgiveness after and end up with a clean slate anyhow.

Nothing is absolute to anyone.

Answer 4

To me religion=perception. The 2 are synonymous. To ME. I do not bear in mind religion something extra, than perception. It's now not why or the way you think, or if it is real. To me, an Atheist, I think that what you think is your religion, and is right to you, however does now not regulate my religion that there's no god within the experience that the phrase god is hired. To me Atheism is a religion of it is possess, on account that this is a perception that some thing does not exist. I recognize there are lots of logical Atheist's that dislike me for me ideas and thumb me down whenever I make a assertion approximately what I simply wrote. That's what I think. It's my religion that what I'm pronouncing is the reality.

Answer 5

Where does someone who has never learned about God get their sense of right vs. wrong or good vs evil? Progress is advancement in knowledge. Are you suggesting the people who don't believe in God don't know their right from wrong? That we're all mindless killing/stealing/raping machines?

Answer 6

As an Atheist, I find myself being a "Non-believer" there is an absence of belief, not a denial of something others allow themselves to believe. Atheism is a belief system like bald is a hair color.

I get my moral compass from my up-bringing, my society, and my own sense of self preservation. it stands to reason that people who do bad things are more likely to have bad things happen to them.

A moral compass which allows itself to be "Corrected" by simply asking forgiveness from a magical fairy ( or just insert name of your deity/Savior here), would be absolutely absurd if we want to compare it in nautical terms. Imagine a sailor with a faulty compass sailing east southeast when he is trying to sail south southwest and just asking his magical fairy to forgive him for entering a false course, and VIOLA! his course is automatically corrected and his "compass" is no longer out of whack. I bet his captain gives him a few good lashes daily.

Likewise a moral compass based on "Christianity, Islam, etc. would work about as well.

Answer 7

Humans define right and wrong. Every definition is different and there is no right one.

Good and evil is defined by human nature.

Progress is defined based on life.


I get my moral compass from living, not from a fairy tale.

Answer 8

We know whats right and wrong because we can control our behavior and live morally good live without believing there is a big guy up in the sky thats gonna punish us if we aren't. We do the right thing because its the right thing, not because we've been brainwashed.

Answer 9

As an Atheist I was born with a moral compass of my own. I believe in treating others in the same fashion that I expect to be treated. I think for myself, I believe in science...not fairy tales.

Answer 10

Intent defines right versus wrong, good versus evil. Anything can be made good or made bad just by the intent of the person applying it.

My parents taught me my morals and society has reinforced them. I don't need religion to know it is wrong to lie, murder, cheat, steal. I can see that those are wrong for myself and I do not do them. If someone wants theology to do that for them fine.. I don't need it to do it for me. To each their own.