Atheist some random question?

Question

What makes things wrong? Like if I stole a million dollars and could get away with it, wouldn't if feel awesome. Who determined what good and evil was? If I asked you if pornography is right or wrong you would prbly say its okay. But if I go on to say child pornography it becomes sick and wrong. So what determines if something is moral or immormal, or all things acceptable?

By the way I value your opinion even if I might disagree with it

What makes harming another individual wrong?

If there was nothing to tell me right or wrong,,How could I know?

Answer 1

What determines right from wrong? How about the consequences imposed on you for doing said activities as one option. Another is that if you had a million dollars, would you want it stolen from you? Knowing how you would feel if that same activity you wanted to do was turned against you gives you a feeling of right from wrong.

Answer 2

Your assumption is probably that Atheists have no morals without religion?

I'm agnostic but this applies to me too. My morals do not come from a book, or someone telling me it is right or wrong. For the most part, I do unto others as I would have them do unto me. So I wouldn't steal a million dollars because I would hate it if someone stole that million dollars from me. I am not a hypocrite. There are amoral people, whether they have religion or not (I just read a Dear Margo article about a loved-in-the-community church goer that had several affairs while being married). So it stands that there are moral people who aren't religious.

Besides, according to Christianity, I could lead a moral life to the betterment of my fellow man (volunteer in the Peace Corps, etc) and yet still go to Hell for not being a believer. But I could go on a killing spree and still go to Heaven as long as I repent to a priest or something. Now that doesn't make sense!

Answer 3

All you need is empathy, experience, a conscience that humans are animals that live better in organized groups and a lot of common sense to know what's best to keep the group safe, organized and with the conditions necessary to maximize everyone's benefits. In other words, all you need to do is to think.

Now, the moral step, once you've realized what's the right thing to do, being moral implies doing the right thing in whatever situation you are. That is to say, you have to do the right thing without taking in account men or god(s). If someone does the right thing because god is watching, that person is not a moral person, a true moral person would do the right thing just because it's the right thing. In that sense, I think most religions do not promote morality, but just paternalist relationships where you'll get a reward if you do good or a punishment if you do bad, such relationship is that, childish. I've found out that several believers are moral people though, they do what is right because it's right and not thinking they have to please god(s), that's true morality.

Laws should be based on reasonable basis that allows society to work better for the benefits of its members.

"There was no other God, religion, or lawful magistracy, than conscience, which teaches all men the precepts of Justice, to do no injury, to live honestly, and give everyone his due." - Pierre Bayle (1673)

"Because morality is a social necessity, the moment faith in god is banished, man's gaze turns from god to man and he becomes socially conscious. Religious belief prevented the growth of a sense of realism. But atheism at once makes man realistic and alive to the needs of morality." - Gora (1973)

Answer 4

Its up to the individual to decide what is right and wrong.

If I say (hypothetically) that pornography is wrong, then that makes it wrong for me even though someone else might believe its okay.

In a society such as ours many people have similar beliefs regarding the right and wrong of various things. When most of the people in a society believe that something is wrong (for example: murder) then laws are created to enforce this belief on the rest of the society. The reasons behind an individual's beliefs of right and wrong are not important (there are countless reasons), what matters is that an overall sense of right and wrong forms in a society when there is a majority among its individuals' beliefs.

So, to use your example, pornography is considered okay by a significant portion of our society and thus it isn't considered "wrong" by many people. Child pornography, on the other hand, is considered by most of the population to be wrong. The reasons for this aren't particularly important to the discussion. What matters is that since most people think its wrong, it becomes wrong in our society.

Answer 5

Morals are subjective to place and time. What is wrong today might be right tomorrow. Our opinion of morality is not shared the world over.

The Holocaust was less then 60 years ago. Look at Darfur today. The list is nearly endless of people doing horrific acts against fellow human beings. Morals in the absence of G-d is a slippery slope that changes with the times.

Answer 6

Its the same morals and ethics that have been co-opted in the Bible. Things like "do unto others..." "honor other people" etc, are concepts that transcend and pre-date religions per se, and certainly the bible. They are part of basic human rights and moral "law". Concepts of God, Religion, Heaven and Hell, are not necessary for human beings to see these general rules as adventageous. They are the product of the thinking mind, a mind that places us above the animal through cognition instead of trial and error.

Example:
The Golden Rule was first recorded in ancient Egypt (pre Moses and Torah) at around 2000BC. And it was surely in culture before being written down. It is part of many religions (most religions actually have the same moral principles for the most part) and philosphies (i.e. Confucious)

--edit--
the standards of such ethics can remain constant (moral univeralism) or change with time/place (moral relativism) as the answer below states. Often a mix: specific morals and laws are usually cultural and decided by a majority community standard of some sort that is based on degrees of fundamentaly accepted values and customs.

Answer 7

Everything is okay if it doesn't cause unnecessary harm to others. I mean "unnecessary" because for example an operation does harm the patient, but it's necessary, because otherwise, the patient can die.

So, adult porn is not bad, if the people filmed or photographed agree to pose. No harm is done, because everybody is there voluntarily. Another problem though is that some people go into porn (or prostitution) because they're starving and they need the money. In that case, I'd say it's immoral that society forces them into that activity.

Now, child porn is ALWAYS bad, because it harms children when they are not even mature enough to agree to it. So, it's not sick that some people are attracted to children (though I'm not, myself). What's disgusting is that children are used, when they don't know better, and they're hurt only for the pleasure of adults. Anyone involved in that should simply go to jail.

Answer 8

Good question.

Who knows where morals and morality first came from?? But I can tell you that I determine what is good and what is bad for myself. And its pretty easy. In fact, I beleive your religion also has the same tenant - I treat other people how I expect to be treated. Its that simple.
As for your example of porn and kiddie porn, I would say that porn is okay, absolutely. Child porn on the other hand is wrong - not because moralistically it disgusts me, but because a young child cannot consent to being photographed while having sex. So it boils to consent..... Of course, I guess I could con a 10 year old into sex with an Xbox 360....but thats conning, not consentual...

Answer 9

Child pornography is perverting children. 12 or 13 year old girls are not supposed to be having sex and the boys are barely starting puberty.
Adult pornography is adults: They know what they are doing.
There is no universal atheist belief, what atheists have in common is that we dont believe in god. To me right and wrong is simply determined by whether you are hurting someone or not.
Stealing 1 million dollars would definitely hurt someone, so its wrong

Answer 10

Moral or immoral is just another way to say "I like that" or "I don't like that".

If you stole a million dollars and got away with it, it would be immoral from my perspective, but if I did it, it would be moral. I'm willing to settle on a compromise of neither of us doing it, which is what ethics is about.

From my perspective, child porn is wrong because it harms children who I have empathy for, and because they will likely grow up to be sociopaths who then pose a danger to me. Not to mention that the adults willing to participate in that demonstrate a callous disregard for the rights of others and are likely already a threat me.

'moral' and 'immoral' are arbitrary concepts. We end up writing laws based on the simple concept of tit-for-tat with the hope of minimizing the bad stuff others do to us while not overlly burdoning ourselves with intolerable rules.