What type of morality do Atheists spread, is it generally good or bad?

Question

are atheists sneaky people?

Answer 1

Because atheism is less an adherence to one point of view than a collection of many, it's impossible to generalise the nature of its morality. You'll find atheists who espouse a wide variety of moral and ethical codes. Most atheists that I know tend to be pretty positive people, who believe in self-determination and therefore in personal responsibility. If you believe you only have one life, and that what you do or do not do is the only judgement of good and evil, then you have perhaps a higher vested interest in ensuring a good life experience for everyone you meet - if this is all there is, then it won't be alright in the afterlife, you have to make it good right now.

I'd say that's a pretty good morality to live by, wouldn't you?

Answer 2

It would not be much different from the golden rule principle that is common in most religious and non religious doctrines. It's presumable, given the size religion still has today, that many atheists were formerly religious, or have been exposed to the common themes of Christian, et al, morality. And an atheist would tell you that those rules come from man, not god, so why shouldn't man be able to make positive contributions to moral law today?

Answer 3

Studies have shown atheists have significantly lower divorce rates and crime rates in the United States at least.


Divorce Rates:
Jews 30%
Born-again Christians 27%
Other Christians 24%
Atheists, Agnostics 21%

Prison Rates:
Catholic 29267 39.164%
Protestant 26162 35.008%
Muslim 5435 7.273%
American Indian 2408 3.222%
Nation 1734 2.320%
Rasta 1485 1.987%
Jewish 1325 1.773%
Church of Christ 1303 1.744%
Pentecostal 1093 1.463%
Moorish 1066 1.426%
Buddhist 882 1.180%
Jehovah Witness 665 0.890%
Adventist 621 0.831%
Orthodox 375 0.502%
Mormon 298 0.399%
Scientology 190 0.254%
Atheist 156 0.209%
Hindu 119 0.159%
Santeria 117 0.157%
Sikh 14 0.019%
Bahai 9 0.012%
Krishna 7 0.009%


http://www.atheistempire.com/reference/stats/main.html

Answer 4

That would be as individual as the morality a religious believer would spread. On a personal level, while I was raising my children to respect themselves and to treat others as they want to be treated themselves, I also taught them that it is arrogance that allows someone else to believe they have the right to tell everyone else what to do and how to live. Arrogance is a fault, or in a religious world, a sin.

Answer 5

The atheist I know have better morals than some of the religious people I know.

Answer 6

Generally good. Religious people tend to have their morality spoon-fed to them out of really old books that have little relevance to today's society. This makes them morally lazy. They are actually discouraged from thinking about the morality of an action, if their "holy" book, tells them it is good or bad. A prime example of this religious training is the story of Abraham being ready to sacrafice his son, Isaac. Presumably, if God hadn't told Abraham that he was just being tested, Abraham would have followed the command to kill his son without ever thinking about whether this was actually a good thing to do or not. As crazy as this sounds, the actions of Abraham are held by certain religious people as "good". It is the ultimate example of what was condemned at the Nuremburg trials. "Why were you going to kill your son?" "Just following orders"

Atheists tend to think for themselves. They actually ponder why something might be good or bad instead of just defaulting whatever someone in an authority position told them. Many religious people can't really describe why something is good or bad without just defaulting to "God said so". Religious people's morality is not just bad, it is frequently dangerous.

Answer 7

Why would it be bad?
Isupose they follow something like the social contract theory/ contractarian theory of morals.

basically says do whats best for everyone and do unto others what you would want done unto yourself.
works on the principle that if you want to live comfortably then you have to treat others well and do whats best for everyone because of the way we are all interconnected.
Eg if you want to live without fear then dont go around murdering people cos it raises the chances that people would want to murder you or accept murder as a norm (which also reduces social security).

Answer 8

Do nothing that would cause harm to another. More specifically, don't lie, cheat, steal, murder or rape. If you check out prison statistics, you will notice that atheists are under-represented in the prison population.

Are we sneaky people? No, we tend to be very open and up-front about things.

Answer 9

i have thought a lot about this , as it is posted so often

but i know wonderful , caring and compassionate atheists
and to be honest i feel this is more sincere than that of people in religion
to have this compassion without fear of reprisals if they dont
to freely love people without a book instructing them to do so
i would trust those morals before any other

and yes i am religious

Answer 10

Its generally good because its formed from reasoning with yourself rather than reciting an ancient book. The problem with morals is they change, what may have been considered acceptable 2000 years ago (e.g. slavery) is no longer, but I think everyone realises this, no matter their religion (if you don't then you need help).