Athiest, if there is no set moral code then whats to prevent anarchy?

Question

In my last question about secret handshakes and moral codes I found out a thing or too. Some of you seem pretty normal, i.e. could understand the humor but then you ignored the real question and dodged it just as you accuse christians of doing about science questions.

Some of you take yourselves far to serious and are at least as humorless as you accuse christians of being.

However only one was honest and admitted that even though there was not one set code, you live by rules.

Those rules by the way are man made societly rules normally taken from religion, therefore they are a creation of men and they don't really exist according to an athiest's reasoning. Wouldn't rape, murder and theft simply be extension of natural law that you all claim to believe? survival of the fittest, the strongest fastest most cunning of the species survives? Natural law says we are just evolved apes after all. Really ya'll what keeps chaos from reigning

Look ma ants on my stick.

History disproves that mankind will do whats best of society. History is something I can touch and see. If what you say is true and mankind evolved morals devoid of religion they why do most all societys have a religion? Why are there so many warlike societies where its perfectly okay to kill steal and rape other people? It's not my logic at fault here.

Attila the hun
Adolf Hitler
Joseph Stalin
Mohammad
Just for starters If I just open a book I could fill up a page and not be done.

Moral relativism thats a good one. You do realize in your western culture what you consider the norm would be alien to other cultures and could get you killed there. Or perhaps they would do something to you that is perfectly normal in their society but offends you greatly. For instance I'm sure some lunatic misguided Iraqi dissadent would love to have your western decadant rear end right now in his hands right now.

Answer 1

Society.

Answer 2

I'm not going to call you an idiot, because that would be a "violation;" but this is certainly an idiotic argument.

Just for starters - you claim that since rules are man-made and "taken from religion," atheists reason that they don't really exist. Well, uh, no. "Atheists" as a class would only reason that those rules don't come from God! I can't even imagine how you arrive at the idea that atheism includes the notion that man-made things are nonexistent. Try to understand just one thing today: "atheism" is plainly and simply disbelief in God. Period. Just because somebody comes on this board as an "atheist" doesn't mean that every cute little opinion he advances is part and parcel of his atheism. It's as if you claimed that everybody who eats Big Macs is pro-death penalty.

But what you probably intend, but can't articulate, is that "atheists" tend to be "moral relativists," because they tend not to believe in a set of absolute, God-given moral and ethical "Commandments." True enough! But your real problem with this is apparently that you don't trust your own conscience, and you therefore can't imagine that anybody else could. If "God" had not written a book in which He expressly forbad you from slaughtering your parents, you'd have done it long ago. "Chaos would reign," right?

To slavishly follow out a set of dead conventions, spurred by your fear of one imaginary locale called "Hell" and your desire for another called "Heaven," in lieu of simply doing what is right and appropriate in any given situation on "first principles" as it were, is the mark of a morally bankrupt weakling.

Answer 3

No, religions took their rules from men. Search on the Code of Hammurabi. That's the secular source of the Ten Commandments. Which nullifies the rest of your argument there.

'Survival of the fittest' is way more complicated than the strongest wins. That's a very narrow way of looking at it strictly in terms of individual animals. Evolutionary processes involve groups as well, and that's where things get really interesting. So another one down to a misunderstanding of history.

Property law goes a long way against chaos. Usually at the expense of those with less, but that's another question altogether.

Answer 4

1st: atheists, not athiests. Jews do not believe that at all. Our purpose is to "heal the world" and bring it into a state of order. All of the problems of the planet (war, disease, environmental destruction, hatred, etc.) are within our power to fix. And that's what we're charged to do. Raising children is certainly part of it, because we're (I'm paraphrasing) "not required to finish the task, but we're not allowed to desist from it either". Our descendants will continue the work just like our ancestors did in their way. We spend almost no time thinking about the afterlife, since it's only speculative. So, personally speaking, a lot of the answers by atheists resonate with me even though I'm not an atheist myself.

Answer 5

Laws to prevent the strongest from preying on the weakest, to prevent one person from taking what belongs to another, to protect women from rape, did not originate from religion. It was the beginning of civilization.
There is a mistaken belief that morals originated from religion. Belief in the supernatural is religion. Civilization means morals.
Most of the very most moral people are non-believers.
Another point where you are mistaken is in your statement that we evolved from apes. That may be your belief, but it is not mine, or Darwin's, or modern day scientists. It's always good advice to study the subject before making statements that show you know little about the subject.
What keeps chaos from reigning ? You claim it's the church. Our biggest racketeers are good church members. Crooks are far more afraid of the law than they are of the fires of hell.

Answer 6

People are inherently selfish, but if we all pursued our own selfish goals with no regard for others, then we would have no freedoms. For example, we would have the right to kill people, but we would not have freedom from murder. To prevent this situation, the people agree to abide by a set of laws, known as a 'social contract'. The state is given the power to enforce the conditions of this contract, for example using the criminal justice system.
And societal rules are not 'taken from religion'. It's the other way around; religious values are taken from society. The idea that certain behaviours are unacceptable predates all modern religions by hundreds of thousands of years.

Hitler, Stalin and Attila the Hun are very poor examples. They're not exactly typical people, are they? But they still help your case more than your racist hate-mongering does. Grow up.

Answer 7

Moral codes were around long before Christianity and other religions. Many tribes, races and countries have higher moral codes.

What is moral about Christians or any other religious group trying to own morals? Surely that is not just ignorant but morally repugnant!!!

Answer 8

We did not evolve from apes, chimps or monkeys. We came from the same branch of the animal family tree. Apes, chimps & monkeys are modern animals, therefore we could NOT have evolved from them. Learn a little about evolution before you spew more ignorance.
Believe it or not, people can "do the right thing" without having to be frightened or guilted into it by some mythological god.
Your question implies that chaos/anarchy doesn't exist today. Have you read the news lately?

Answer 9

What a silly question that only a goofy religious person or someone completely ignorant of the nature of our species could find the least compelling. Sorry, but if you actually believe this then your premises are awfully dumb. If, on the other hand, you are joking, then hats off to you.

Answer 10

We are a social species that evolved in extended family groups. Taking care of each other and working together IS human nature! It is also human nature to fight when necessary, but if we all respect each other's boundaries and stay out of each other's business, there is no need for fighting. "Survival of the fittest" does not mean the strongest or the most manipulative... it means those individuals most fit to ensure survival of the species. The ones who take good care of their children, for example.