Atheists, answer this?

Question

i u belive there is no god who is is that voice in your head that tells u that that was good and that was bad u know your conscience.

Answer 1

It's called free will. And much of our 'conscience' is formed by society or upbringing--our parents or society telling us what is right or wrong. Also a rational fear of the consequences of an unlawful act. There's been many times I wanted to just punch someone but it's not worth going to jail over so you don't. If you're implying that God and a conscience are the same thing, then did my conscience create the universe? I don't think so.

Answer 2

Your "voices" in your head are just one part of your brain talking to another part of your brain.

The human brain is a marvelous thing. Babies are born with an almost empty mind. It takes about 10 years of development before some children start to develop some critical thinking skills. Everything they were taught before then is assumed to be true. This becomes an underlying layer of subconscious thought that inflences how they perceive the world, and even how they perceive themselves.

Anyway, I am atheist, and have a pretty active consciousness and conscience. I believe it is all in my mind. I expect that when I die, I will cease to exist. This belief does not mean I feel like I have the freedom to take advantage of others. I treat others well because I want to be treated well. I have empathy for my fellow man, and know that I am better off when I live in a community of kindness and trust.

Answer 3

You answered your own question: it's your conscience? What does that have to do with your god?

(This question has been rephrased to show stupidity)

To Christians: If you believe that there are no giant invisible pink elephants floating around Pluto, then who is that voice in your head that tells you that that was good and that was bad? You know, your conscience?

By the way, I would advise you to check out this site: http://www.peterussell.com/SCG/EoC.html

Answer 4

That voice is my own sense of reason. Morality is virtually the same in most cultures. It is pretty amazing that the Egyptian Book of the Dead covers most of the Ten Commandments except it demanded different gods. The killing, stealing, and going after your buddies wife were all there.

That is because there is reason at the base of what is right and wrong. It comes from humans, not god.

Answer 5

First of all, I believe in God. This kind of question really pisses me off. Morals are common sense, not religious. Hopefully, your parents teach the basics, but ultimately it is our decision alone how we behave. Sure there are purely evil people in the world. John Wayne Gacy went to church. Most of us just use common sense and try to do what is right, most of the time. Just because someone does not believe in God, does not make them bad or sinful. I hope you get some good answers from them and you will have an open mind.

Answer 6

Who said I had a conscience? I don't hear voices in my head? You head voices in your head? Maybe you need to see a doctor because I don't think that is normal...

Answer 7

Whenever I see a question like this, I am appalled to be reminded that there are people out there who are so out of touch with their basic humanity, and reality, that they would not have any idea how to conduct themselves in society, absent the code of an imaginary supernatural being, based on the myths, superstitions, fairy tales and fantastical delusions of an ignorant bunch of Bronze Age fishermen and wandering goat herders.

Cooperation, altruism and love are innate properties of human existence... a more sophisticated version of the social organization that you can see among pods of dolphins or orcas, packs of wolves, lion prides and troops of chimpanzees. Moral consensus, moral conscience and mutual empathy are evolved survival traits. These are social constructs... the social lubrication that allows people to exist together. People come away with the misconception that they don't exist, absent religion. The religious puppet masters try to perpetuate that idea, in order to protect their conduits to wealth and power... but that is a canard. This has to do, entirely, with human nature.

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"With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion." ~ Steven Weinberg
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Richard Dawkins - The Root of All Evil Part 2.1 (moral behavior)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=mGLPViVW5ms

Richard Dawkins - The Root of All Evil Part 2.6 (evolution basis for morality)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=mGLPViVW5ms&mode=related&search=

Meditate on this for a little while. Christians make up about 75% of the US population and 75% of the US prison population. No big surprise there.

Atheists, on the other hand, make up about 10% of the US population... but they only make up 0.2% of the US prison population. Now, isn't THAT a surprise? That means that atheists are FIFTY (50) times LESS LIKELY to be incarcerated than Christians. Pretty strange, huh, for a group that has no god-given guiding moral principals?

I can think of only two possibilities that might reasonably be said to account for this discrepancy:

1. Atheists are of a higher ethical and moral caliber than Christians, and thus are less prone to do the same kinds of nasty things that land so many Christians in the slammer;

OR,

2. Atheists are, overall, a lot smarter than Christians and thus, they are less likely to get caught in the course of their transgressions.

It's GOT to be one or the other... take your pick.

Answer 8

The conscience exists independently of religion. Things are just right or wrong. I don't need any God to tell me so.

Answer 9

For both believers and non-believers, that voice is not god - it's our own thought system telling us what we think is right and wrong. It can't be 'god' because we know so many who have said that their inner voice was saying something was wrong but it turned out to be a voice of misperceived guilt.

Answer 10

I, for one, do not have voices in my head. If you do, you should have your meds adjusted before those voices tell you to do something you shouldn't. Talk to the nice people in the white coats and be sure to mention the voices, now won't you?