Do you really have to believe in a pie-in-the-sky GOD/RELIGION in order to be GOOD/MORAL?

Question

The fecal matter will impact the rotating propellor on this one!

Answer 1

no, absolutly not. Atheists are plenty moral! at least we don;t kill people for "god"

Answer 2

No, and I'll tell you why.

Under the old system, there was a strict hierarchy with God at the top, then the Pope, the king, some other swishy inbred royals, the nobility, the gentry, the clergy, the livestock, the cabbages, and finally you. Money and power went up the chain, and "order" came down. You knew exactly where you stood, what the rules were, and who was in charge. You paid your taxes, grew your turnips, and went to church. You did NOT start pondering ethics, because there was never a need.

Then the Enlightenment came along, and the whole house of cards came crashing down. Actually, the Enlightenment is still going on - we're still gaining knowledge and insight that takes us further and further from the Dark Ages where everyone knew their place (ie, one rung below cabbage).
But not knowing your place has its own problems. Realizing there probably is no Divine Creator leads to an existential crisis: if God didn't make the rules, then who the hell made the rules? Are there even any rules? What the hell am I supposed to do if there aren't even any goddamn rules?

If you can avoid going totally apesh!t and jumping off a bridge, you realize that YOU, and you alone, are responsible both for making up the rules and for following the rules.

Does this mean you could do whatever you wanted and say it was moral? Yes. You could do that.

Is that what you want to do? Knowing that morality exists solely by your will, is it your will that there be no order? Think about it for a second.

Don't think about what OTHER PEOPLE would do if they could make up their own rules. You are the only one who can exercise Your Free Will, and yours is the only Will at your disposal; so you are the only one who needs to have a code of ethics.

It begins to dawn on you that you have nothing to fall back on. You can't say, Don't blame me, I was only doing what God told me to do. You are the ONLY one who can decide what is Right, what is Just, and what you will ultimately choose to do.

This is an awesome responsibility. If you made it this far, you will treat it accordingly.

Answer 3

No. Plenty of people are good mostly because they were born that way. It comes natural to them more or less. Many people attend church and say the believe in God and their particular religion because they are afraid of their own natural proclivity toward evil. They need that weekly boost to keep them on the straight path. They can try to behave as if they are good and that is a helpful thing in a society which runs by rules based on Judeo Christian principles.
An interesting thought-The terrorists believe in a pie in the sky God and are totally immoral and evil.

Answer 4

Of course not. The problem is that eventually you're going to run into a problem where those of us who do believe will get a completely different answer from those of you who don't, even though we're all trying to be "good/moral". For instance: where do you stand on euthanasia? It is surely true that no "good/moral" person wants others to suffer, but does that mean you kill someone to prevent it? What you believe about God and the purpose of the universe will have a great deal to do with how you answer that question.

Answer 5

Major world religions such as Christianity and Islam are inherently amoral - They do not judge behaviour according to whether it is moral, but according to whether it is 'sinful', i.e. whether or not it is consistent with the orders of the religion's deity. Atheism, by contrast, allows for true morality, since the atheist worldview allows actions to be judged good or bad according to conscience, which is the true definition of morality.

So the answer to your question is "No" - If people followed religion rigidly then they wouldn't be moral at all. It's only the fact that they do allow their consciences to slip into gear occasionally that makes them moral people.

Answer 6

No, you don't have to believe in our Lord to be a good and moral person. My friend is an atheist and has wonderful values. She believes in showing love and kindness to others as long as they do the same. She will also kick butt if offended. She does not insult the beliefs of others either. She respects the right of those who believe in God to do so without being disrespected.

Answer 7

Nope. we all have the ability to know right from wrong, it's just that some of us rarely use that ability.

This is not based on any religion, it's common sense.

besides, what would it hurt if EVERYONE, either believer or non-believer followed this simple rule; "Treat others as you would like to be treated"

Religion has nothing to do with that being good advice to follow, even though there are many on this forum who choose to not follow that rule and then wonder why people treat them so badly.

Answer 8

No, it has been my experience that Religious people are less moral than a free thinker, most free thinkers tend not to imposed their beliefs on others by using hurtful terms like you will burn in hell. Morality is not just about certain things in the Bible, it's about treating people with respect and respecting the FREE thought of others as long as it does not hurt of condemn anyone.

Answer 9

Performing good deeds for the mere purpose of being rewarded is selfish, and the gods will know of your intentions. As long as you're a good person, you will not be punished. Only demons demand worshippers.

Answer 10

No, in fact it seems rather wimpy to only do good because you shall be rewarded. I get a kick out of helping people and that is fun enough. Keep the stink flying, it fertilizes creative thought!

Answer 11

No.

To aedgagt:

Morals are relative and are not absolute

Consider the vast differnces in culture between islam and christianity.

By you reasoning everything not christian must be immoral, and from a muslim, everything not islamic is immoral, as both are claiming their moral "truths" from the divine.