Do atheists have higher moral standards than religious people?

Answer 1

Generally...Yes.
This can be "proved" statistically. For instance if you compair the population of religious persons in prison to those who are atheist, you will find that atheist commit far less crime than religious people. So either atheist are much more intelligent, or they are more moral.
If you don't like the results...don't give me a thumbs down.
scientific test done by christian organizations also shows that praying has no effect. in fact in every study praying for a sick person has had the opposite effect...sorry...just close you eyes and hold on to your towel.

Answer 2

Everybody, regardless of their moral standards, is influenced by their understanding of consequences of their actions for themselves (the 'carrot and stick' incentive model'). Given this fact, you would expect a religious person to ACT more 'moral': for an atheist, weighing up an immoral act would see them consider that on the one hand, they might make an illicit gain, but on the other hand, they might go to jail. For a believer in a merit-based afterlife, however, the flipside is that they might go to hell for all eternity. That certainly acts as a pretty good incentive not to do wrong!

However, the above analysis doesn't explain why religious people who say they believe in a merit-based afterlife (heaven if you're good, hell if you're bad) still do the most horrendous things, and this is where the problem with religion comes in: 'plenary indulgence' as the Christian church used to call it (though all religions have a word for this idea that you can get away with whatever you like so long as it's for the sake of your religion). Here the atheist is the more 'moral' actor since they will always make a moral decision based on the facts in front of them and a personal judgement one way or the other. They might get this wrong (indeed they often do) but they'll never go down the line a lot of religious people take which is to blindly follow the letter of a principle in a holy book even when doing so causes great suffering.

Ultimately, an atheist would probably act more morally since they know that the life they live is all there's ever going to be, so we might as well make the world a nice place to live. Far too many religious people see this world as a corruption or as a distraction, leading them to prioritise the next life without trying to make life better in this one.
Atheists are more likely to do 'little' bad things (things where they know noone is watching) but religious people do more really bad things because they feel those things are justified. By 'religious' I include anyone following an ideology of absolutes eg Communism or Fascism - these operate in exactly the same way since they demand adherence to rigid principles regardless of who gets hurt.

Answer 3

Athiesm and religion are belief systems and both are open to humanity. With humanity comes different standards and perceptions of what is right and wrong. Not everyone agrees with these differing perceptions. There are plenty of atheists who are capable of having very high moral standards, so much so, that they could be seen as having higher standards then some religious people. In contrast, for example, there are plenty of catholics who do wrong then feel it is ok to go to confession and have their sins absolved; then go out an commit these sins again. There is no defining line between atheist's and religious people's moral standards. We cannot generalise on this subject. All people, no matter what their belief system are open to human error.

Answer 4

It is not possible to generalize about these things. There are plenty of very moral Christians and atheists, and probably plenty who could be called the opposite. The problem for Christians is that as a powerful religion they attract the self-interested who seek to cloak themselves in a kind of accepted moral authority, and the terms of Christianity can be a bit loose - so long as you BELIEVE, your sins whatever they are are forgiven. Very few inherently amoral people would sign up for atheism. So statistically there's a good chance that Christianity will have a higher proportion of cheats, thieves and hypocrites than those who call themselves atheists. It is therefore up to the Christians to decide whether they want to have the higest numbers, or the highest proportion of people who actually behave in good ways.

Answer 5

It depends on the person. There are plenty of religious people whose moral standards may be quite low, and I'm sure there are plenty of atheists who have moral standards that are quite high.
However, if you want to generalize, then I'd say that religious people probably have higher moral standards than atheists.

Answer 6

In normal way, you say the opposite! I think that religious people have higher moral standards than atheists!
You know Buddhism, I know people that in that religious are very kind hearted!
I cant say that way, more I think, more confused I feel , it is not absolute answer, I think
just like you cant judge a people is bad or not absolutey!

Answer 7

First, your question is inflammatory and works from a false pretense, i.e., that atheists have any higher moral standard than do theists. Or deists, for that matter. Additionally, I would posit that your arrogant attitude regarding people of faith is in itself immoral. To judge all theists and deists without knowing all of them is a highly illogical generalization. It seems to me, being an agnostic, that while the difference between truth and fact is the difference between morality and science, neither can truly exist without the other.

Answer 8

You have in mind atheist people or also animals?

I think we can talk about the end of moral when a person present him/herself as a higher being just due to the fact he/she is human and claim for that larger rights than other populations.

Answer 9

I would say our moral standards are not based on fear of some kind of eternal punishment, but rather on how to live a moral life in this world. This doesn't necessarily make them higher than a religious person's; it depends on the person.

Answer 10

atheist they dont have any moral value in life they will say its alright to cheat your wife or beat your wife or even molest ur sister cause no one will say that they are wrong if you dont believed in god. i mean if anything u will do is not a sin then are you a human being to know what is right and what is wrong cause u don't believed in god so there are no rules and moral standard to obey like getting nude in public its alright to do that cause u think its not a sin to show ur boobs to other people right so those atheist are more like an animal than those religious people if you think your free to do what you like and your not committing a sin then ur an animal right

Answer 11

Absolutely, atheists are open and let people believe in what they want to. Other religious people(christian, catholics, etc..) are huge hypocrites. If you don't believe what they believe, you don't matter. And another thing,when is the last time you heard that an atheist raped or molested someone, especially a child. Its like that's all christians and catholics do, it must be their hobby or something.