To atheists?

Question

To borrow the concept of 'sin' for a moment..... What is the greatest sin you think you can commit in a non-religious sense?

I don't just mean crime, I am thinking of things that are personally wrong but not necessarily criminal, for example intellectual dishonesty, not using reason and so forth..

Just to be very clear I am a strong atheist, I was borrowing the phrase as have many others, it may or may not be a useful thing to do as I am finding out...

Answer 1

"Sin" is defined as an offense to a diety, so it simply isn't possible for one who has no diety. If you are refering to the worse moral or ethical breach, that's a personal choice.

In my case, I'd say murder. however, unlike modern legal thinking influenced by judeo-Christian philosophy, I would truly rank forceable Rape as equally as bad.

Answer 2

I'm glad you added the details! That you were "borrowing the phrase," & "may not be a useful thing to do as I am finding out." I agree. It's very controversial, & you might find the question "Could we use a different word than "sin" or "sinning?" a bit insightful. It's resolved, in the Psychology category, but some very good answers you might find helpful. I don't know if you're new to Yahoo Answers, but you can type in the question at the top of the page & then click "search." Personally, the very worst thing I can imagine is premeditated murder. I, too, am an Atheist, & this is an interesting question when clearly understood.

Answer 3

Kill everyone. Is that a sin?

Additional Details

8 hours ago
I don't just mean crime, I am thinking of things that are personally wrong but not necessarily criminal, for example intellectual dishonesty, not using reason and so forth..

Oh, I see what you mean.
That's hard. I would have to say guilt. This will make someone hate.
I guess in the "eyes of god" that is bad. Personally, I could care less.
Guilt would be so because apparently "god" put us here for a reason. Feeling guilty about living where we do and having what we have would be offensive to "him."
I have a friend that is extremely religious and I'm atheist. We are both get along really well. Recently I was stressed and depressed about these facts from the C.I.A. world fact book. If the world was reduced to 100 people and all the existing ratios remained the same, this is what it would look like.

57 would be Asian
21 Europeans
14 from the western hemisphere (Both North and South)
8 Africans

52 would be female
48 male

70 would be non-white
30 white

70 would be non-Christian
30 Christian

89 would be heterosexual.
11 homosexual

6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would be form the United States.

80 would live in substandard housing

70 would be unable to read

50 would suffer from malnutrition

1 would be near death, one near birth

1 would have a college education

1 would own a computer.

If you can speak and act according to your faith and your conscience without harassment, imprisonment, torture, or death, then you are more fortunate then 48 others who cannot.

If you do not live in fear of death by bombardment, armed attack, landmines, or of rape or kidnapping by armed groups, then you are more fortunate then more than 20 other people who do.

This made me feel like ****. What makes me so special that I deserve to live here? Nothing. I have no right to live here. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad and such, but if there was a god, who is he to choose who gets what privileges?

My justification for these facts, like the malnutrition one, is this.
Life in unfair, and it sucks. That’s the way it has to be.
My religious friend says
God knew who could handle it and make the most out of it. All this stuff is there to make us stronger.

I can’t accept that. Sorry. Makes no sense to me.

Answer 4

You can't commit a sin in a non-religious sense, sin is a religious concept. You can do things that are immoral, or irresponsible, or dishonest, or whatever, but there is no religious connotation, just the awareness of how your actions affect your fellow human beings. For example, stealing is a "sin", but I don't steal, not because it is a "sin", but because it would upset another person and deprive him/her of something that belongs to them. I hold myself to a high standard, much higher than I did when I believed in God, because now I have to answer to myself and the person I have wronged. That's a whole lot harder than going to Confession!

Intellectual dishonesty and not using reason are not considered sins, or the Bible would not read the way it does. For an atheist, however, it is a very wrong thing to do, because it means that you are betraying the principles upon which your worldview is based.

Answer 5

If a sin is doing something harmful to an individual or a society, then the worst would be intentionally spreading something that causes unnecessary death that could spread, like a virus or a religion. By religion I mean over the past few 10,000 years using animal/human sacrifice, "ethnic cleansing" genocide, irrationality, illogical thinking, bad decision making, suicide, etc.

Answer 6

I am not an atheist, but my husband is. Someone actually just asked that question a few weeks ago and he answered by saying the worse "sin" is being untrue to oneself. You are the only one who can truly judge your own actions and motivations, so to ignore your principles or go through life without intention or integrity is the worst thing you could do.

Good question :)

Answer 7

Well, in the sense that sin is an attempt to represent something immoral, I think that the greatest sin might be to intentionally harm the greatest number of innocent people.

Answer 8

Oh please, didn't someone just ask this? I won't "borrow" the concept of sin. THERE IS NO ABSOLUTE THING AS SIN. When, I wonder, can you get this out of your mind & live to thrive & be who you are. MY morals are not universal. & yes, surprise surprise, I'm an Atheist & I have morals. But I'd NEVER impose them on anyone, or judge others who didn't agree with me.

Answer 9

I am atheist, too. i do not believe sin exists.

But to indulge you, I think the worst "non-crime" sin is taking advantage of someone sexually. Not rape (we are not talking about a crime), but having sex with a woman who is drunk when you are sober, sleeping with a woman who digs you and expects that sex means that you reciprocate her feelings, convincing a woman to sleep with you under false pretenses, taking advantage of her emotional vaulnerability through sex.

Consentual, sex with recipricated feelings - now that is top notch! Nothing wrong with that, as long as you are safe!

Answer 10

Sin is wrong determined by the christian deity. Atheists do not believe in any deity. Therefore, as an atheist, there is no sin for me to commit or not commit.