Why do religious people think those who don't believe in any particular religion must not have morals?

Question

Is it so hard to believe that some people are instinctually good people and don't need to fear a God or lack of entrance to heaven to be good people?

Answer 1

It is standard practice among religions that morals are rewarded, either by life after death or some favor from a higher power. It is difficult for people who have based their lives on this standard to imagine other people to behave outside this reward based system.

A study once tested a set of children by showing them first how to solve a set of problems. They went along happily doing so just for the joy of it. Then they were rewarded for solving the problems with some token (candy or something). They continued to solve the problems until the reward was removed. At that point they stopped working on the problems. The joy of solving the problems was replaced by the reward system, and once the reward was removed, it was impossible to re-establish the internal reward system based on accomplishment alone.

Answer 2

Everyone has some sort of "morals." The problem is that people who don't believe in God don't have anything concrete, unmovable, unchangeable to base those morals on. So how do you determine whether behavior is "good" or not? Who am I or you to determine that something is either good or bad based on our own feelings or opinions? God has a standard, and it is sometimes different than how we feel things should be. If it's truly God's standard--the Creator of the universe who has all wisdom and understanding--who am I to argue?

So indeed you may be a very "good person" by all the standards of this world, but the Bible says that our very best "good" works are like "filthy rags" compared to the holiness of God.

But then again, I am not in the group of "religious people" that you are referring to because I do believe that people who don't know God can behave well and be kind and do good things. These things can be learned and smart people can realize that life is actually better when we behave well. But your morality won't save you because no matter how "moral" you are, you will never be able to live a perfect life. And perfection is the standard.

Answer 3

The thing is this. Religion as a whole has done nothing good for man. Man created religion, first out of his fear of the unknown and second as a means to come to grips with his mortality. Since we sat around to long thinking about the unknown we started explaining things in terms of god did this or that and what we did here was we took ourselves out of the equation and gave our traits to supernatural beings. All the things that make us beautiful, love, caring, and compassion all these things were said to come from different gods, not to mention we had done the same to all the natural elements before. And all the things that make us "evil" war, sex these traits were also given to "mythical gods".
Man continued to learn and they saw that if they presented ppl with an answer an "explanation" for the unknown then these ppl were special, they are Holy. That’s wear the abuse of religion began. Religion is many things, to many ppl. Religion is probably the greatest thing to ever happen to government. It keeps ppl in line, “God sees every thing", "if you’re bad you'll go to hell". These ideas built into us from the day we were born. It's also a great tool to wage wars*. It boils down to making one group of ppl believe that another group of ppl have no (less) value because "they are gods enemy". Look around you "good" Christians and "good" Muslims are waging wars all over the planet in the name of their "God".
Quick answer for a very complicated and sensitive topic. Not at all complete.
-Pedro

Answer 4

I'll answer your question with another question based on other answers here. Why is it so difficult for non-believers to understand that not all Christians think non-believers have no morals? Your type of questioning is shallow and based totally on opinion. Time to get to something that has some thought and intelligence to it.....if we are to grow on here either way let's start thinking before we say thing.....these little slap in the face questions are getting old.

Answer 5

Readers who think that ethical and moral behavior depend from religion should 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 make up only 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 6

Once again you are generalising. Not all religious people think this.

Followers of Hinduism and Buddhism will not question your morals. They recognise that soul has to go through different spiritual levels and hence their are different paths and types of people. For Hindus even an atheist person but with good Karmas is much better placed in the eyes of God than a religious fanatic who hate others just because they are not following his way.

Answer 7

I dunno why they think that. I guess it makes them feel like part of a special, elite, group that by simply using the label of that group, they are somehow better or more moral than other people. That would be like me running around saying I'm the Prez of the US and it actually making me the Prez.

Not hard at all. Maybe they aren't and therefore need that parental guidance from a father god? or a godfather... hhhmmmm

Answer 8

No one is good. We're all guilty of sin. Just doing good deeds doesn't get you into heaven. Faith and belief in the Lord and doing His work, not good work, will get you into the Kingdom of Heaven. the Bible says "Only the fool says there is no God."

Answer 9

Where did you get that idea? There are many GOOD people. With or without faith in The LORD. I wouldn't ever think a nonbeliever is without morals.

That isn't the question at all. You can be as GOOD as you possibly can be, but goodness can't save you. If I may paraphrase, your goodness is as filthy rags ! You must surrender to Jesus Christ, and trust Him, or you are lost.

Answer 10

The prisons are full of good people who don't believe in God.
Morals have to be based on something.
The 10 Commandments are a good place to start.