Or, does atheists have any reason not to lie, cheat and steal if they think there is no way anyone will catch them?
2006-12-26 02:24:45 · 24 answers · asked by Ivar 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Some where most people are trusted with something. It just depends on what you want to trust them with. As for not getting caught. Sooner or later everyone gets caught doing something wrong. Having faith (I know that will not apply to all) in God,Jesus and the Holy Spirit gives you not only a source of morality. It also gives you a set of rules to go by. Atheist will tell you that there is no such thing as God or any other higher source. I find that funny because how can they say God is not there if He does not exsist in their mind.
Anyway, as to trusting in someone is something you have to decide. It's just that if someone has in their heart and mind that they will answer to Christ. Chances are they can be trusted a great deal more.
Just remember this all of us are HUMAN and ALL OF US WILL GET CAUGHT some day.
2006-12-26 02:48:43 · answer #1 · answered by is4031_us 4 · 1⤊ 3⤋
This is one of my favorite myths about Atheists. I've long had several thoughts about the misconceptions that many Americans have about Atheists. This past Sunday, writer Sam Harris had a great article in the Los Angeles Times titled "10 myths -- and 10 truths about atheism." On the myth that Atheism provides no basis for morality, Harris writes:
"If a person doesn't already understand that cruelty is wrong, he wont' discover this by reading the Bible or the Koran -- as these books are bursting with celebration of cruelty, both human and divine. We don't not get our morality from religion. We decide what is good in our good books by recourse to moral intuitions that are (at some level) hard-wired in us and that have been refined by thousands of years of thinking about the causes and possibilities of human happiness.
We have made considerable moral progress over the years, and we didn't make this progress by reading the Bible or the Koran more closely. Both books condone the practice of slavery -- and yet every civilized human being now recognizes that slavery is an abomination. Whatever is good in scripture -- like the golden rule -- can be valued for its ethical wisdom without our believing that it was handed down to us by the creator of the universe."
While this portion of the article focuses on cruelty, there is also the overlying message of right and wrong. While I do not believe in any Supreme Being, creating and controlling the universe, someone to answer to at the end of my life, I still feel a moral conviction to do what is right in this life because to an Atheist it's this life that matters. I believe that doing the right thing just because it's what you should do instead of doing the right thing out of fear of punishment in an afterlife is a more honorable way of living.
I will add that I don't follow the golden rule as written, rather it is my goal in life to "do unto others as THEY WOULD HAVE ME do unto them." To do unto others as I would have them do unto me assumes that we all have the same wants and desires in life; we all have the same world view. It implies, unintentionally perhaps, a certain level of arrogance.
2006-12-26 03:06:14 · answer #2 · answered by SDTerp 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
I would actually change the focus and ask whether, say, a Christian who chose not to lie in a given situation did so out of fear of retribution. I don't think that Theists don't lie and in fact I distrust people who say they don't lie more than people who admit they'll lie under some circumstances. I think that people who believe in a personal god actually don't stop to think "what would god want me to do" and rather that they weigh the circumstances and go with what their gut says. Why would that be any different for Atheists?
2006-12-26 02:57:55 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
It seems, from the witnessing of several Christians here as well as the frequent repetition of this question, that the Christian imagination cannot conceive of morality or rules of conduct that are separate from their Bible and their beliefs.
Fortunately, atheists are not limited in such ways. We understand that the world is what we make of it.
Perhaps the people that you would like to pin this on are those who don't care enough to have a considered and educated opinion on theological and religious matters. That excludes nearly all of the atheists here.
2006-12-26 02:55:39 · answer #4 · answered by The angels have the phone box. 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Let me ask you a question: do you wish you could lie, cheat, and steal everyday of your life. Do you do good things only for your eternal reward? If God said, "It's okay to lie now", would you lie your head off, even if he didn't say you should lie, just that you could if you wanted to?
Of course not. You don't do those things because you have empathy for others. Because your have an intellect that tells you that you need to be good and kind to people. Because you want to be a good person.
When you ask questions like this, it says very little about atheists. It says a great deal about you, however. It says that you truly believe that, but for the Bible, you have no concept of right and wrong. If you didn't have a book telling you what to do, you would just run around and treat people terribly.
How sad to not know right from wrong!
2006-12-26 02:29:42 · answer #5 · answered by leaptad 6 · 5⤊ 4⤋
Even Christians lie, cheat, and steal if they think they can get away with it. Atheists are generally very ethical people since they realize that what kind of world we live in depends on how each of us acts toward one another. We don't need any god training a rifle on us.
2006-12-26 02:36:11 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 3⤋
Atheists can be trusted if they are trustworthy enough in the matters in concern.
They have their own religions too that dictate them on what they should do and don't do.
2006-12-26 05:03:00 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Atheist or Christian, its all in the upbringing. the kind of parents they had or the kind of relationships they had......that's where the trust is built...there are lying Christians and there are lying Atheist. everyone feels guilt at some point...it just depends on what their tolerance level is to feel it. trust needs to be earned not be based on religious beliefs
2006-12-26 02:31:30 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
Sounds like somebody's decided it IS ok to judge a book by its cover. That's one or two steps back in the game of life.
2006-12-26 05:51:34 · answer #9 · answered by Middle Man 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They can be trusted as much as any group of humans can. We're all humans after all and therefore all imperfect. There is more than one way for people to have a moral centre. Belief in a Deity is not the only one.
2006-12-26 02:28:13 · answer #10 · answered by c'mon, cliffy 5 · 2⤊ 3⤋