Serious Question For Atheists?

Question

If you have no belief in a higher being or an afterlife, what incentive is there (if any) to be a 'good person' while you're alive? I ask this from the point of view that there aren't any consequences for your actions (according to you belief) outside of secular law (imprisonment). But there are a lot of legal, but totally immoral things you still can do, so what stops you from doing them?

Answer 1

Choosing to live is a pre-moral choice, after which, the question becomes 'How?' This is the same as 'What do I do?' One can either go about it randomly or with a methodology designed for success. That methodology is called morality.

An explicit morality allows one to choose rationally among values. It makes the selection of values rational by providing a method to evaluate them. Values are compared to a moral standard, and prioritized according to how well they promote that standard. To make decisions easier, we develop virtues which are moral habits which tend to help gain values.

With rational virtues, acting virtuous leads to a happy and successful life.

Answer 2

Are you REALLY suggesting that the only reason the world's good Christians and good Muslims aren't raping & pillaging every day is because of fear of eternal punishment?

Do you really believe religion prevents violence?

You only have to use common sense and the simplest 'game theory' to realize the best way to have a fair, just, and non-violent society is to just be nice to everyone. An imaginary man with a beard up in the sky is not needed for that!

P.S. did Abraham Lincoln lack morals? Or James Madison? Or John Adams? Or Gene Roddenberry? Or WALT DISNEY? Or "Mark Twain"?

According to your logic, none of these folks had any reason other than imprisonment to stop them being "bad"!

Answer 3

My incentive for being a good person is my love for my fellow man. With or without God, I feel a strong empathic bond to other people which cannot be truly broken or affirmed with abstract theology. I do not do good acts because I am afraid of being punished--if someone only does good because he is scared of secular or divine judges punishing them otherwise, then are they really being "good", or merely prudent? The truly good person is one who does good even when he knows he doesn't "need" to for his own benefit; if Christians believe that every good thing they do benefits them, and that this is the real reason to do good, then Christians have a shallow and self-serving morality. Fortunately, I don't believe this about Christians: I believe that Christians would do good even if they believed in no God. I have faith--faith in humanity. They may not be perfect, but they're better than even the best imaginary friend.

Answer 4

The Golden Rule is not a distinctly religious concept. Anything that, in aggregate, makes life worse for everyone is bad. Anything that makes the world a better place to live is good. Add in a little tolerance for minor B.S. and other stress-relieving human frailties and you have a perfectly good ethical system.

Appealing to a hypothetical supernatural authority locks out any notion of revision and improvement when people figure out the loopholes. And the afterlife was invented precisely because it appears that "God" is not making any effort to make THIS life "just".

Answer 5

Morality doesn't come from religion. I was taught to be a good person, to help others, and not hurt people because it's the right thing to do, and because I would not want to be hurt myself. There ARE consequences for my actions, and they happen DURING my lifetime, when I can actually experience them. Atheists take responsibility for our own actions, instead of blaming a devil, and WE don't believe we can get magically forgiven for any bad thing we do. We simply DON'T hurt people in the first place.

"What you do not wish upon yourself, extend not to others." — Confucius (ca. 551–479 BCE)

Teaching children to be good because a God who drowns and slaughters people is watching them is foolish and dangerous. Once you establish that smiting people makes one worthy of admiration, worship, and praise, you plant the seed that violence is ok (especially since God repeatedly commands his followers to kill people). Clearly, atheists do not make up the majority of violent criminals. People who wouldn't be able or have incentive to behave without a God, Book, or Top Ten List are scary.

Which "legal, but totally immoral things" are you talking about?

Answer 6

I just plain don't want to?

Most of them lead to pain, strife, or exclusion from the community, even if they're legal, and I would prefer to avoid pain, strife, and exclusion from the community.

Your question basically assumes that since the world is not fair, there must be a cosmic balancer -- but I challenge this assumption. Why must things be fair, in the end?

Can a person not make as much choice to be good for it's own sake as they could, as you point out, choose to do anything at all that they like?

Answer 7

What sort of legal, but immoral things are you talking about.

There are things that are considered "Completely Immoral" by Christians, that I might not find immoral at all. Things such as polygamy, homosexuality, etc.

But I basically follow the ideal that the US was founded on. Freedom for all, without imposing on the freedom of others. Or like some pagans believe "Do what thou will and it harm none." Sound like a perfectly moral and reasonably philosophy to me.

I also feel inclined to help others for the betterment of my species.

Answer 8

Morality doesn't come purely from what we are taught. In a strange way, the existence of the unexplainable phenomenon known as altruism almost seems to suggest the existence of a soul/spirit, as it makes little biological sense.

The best attempts at explaining it I've seen came from the "The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins, a well known atheist. Even he admits to not knowing exactly where altruism comes from, his theories are interesting.

Second of all, fear of repercussions is not a good reason to do good. What binds all people on the religious spectrum is altruism, doing good solely for the sake of doing good. I hope this answers your question.

Answer 9

What stops me from doing them, is I was born a human being, with human intelligence, common sense, and empathy for my fellow man. I'm a good person because I AM a good person, and want to be a good person, not because I fear punishment in some afterlife.
If there was a God, don't you think He'd be sad to know that you don't have enough confidence in the brains He gave you, the common sense He blessed you with, and the empathy He instilled in you, to figure out ALL ON YOUR OWN how to do the right thing?

Answer 10

WHY do you people insist that we can have no morals without belief in a deity??? I have a CONSCIENCE. My parents also taught me right from wrong. I don't hurt others because I care about people and I don't want to get hurt myself. I am a good person, I give to charities, I volunteer my time, I donate blood, I am kind to others, and I love animals. I am human and I know that I try to treat others as I would like to be treated. That might be the 'golden rule" but it is still a good thing to follow.