Atheists: Does it make any difference if we are evil or good?

Question

Is there no punishment for those who live by greed and vicious methods? Oil barons who jack up prices just so they can make huge profits. hurting those who cannot afford to live? Murderers and rapists, who inflict pain and suffering, not only their victims, but, the families of victims as well? So, should we live our lives and get as much as we can out of life, not caring who we hurt? And live by a policy, "Take what you can, because this is the only life you have" ?
And those of us who do try to live honest and benevolent lives, are doing so for nothing? Is it better to take advantage, and get ahead, than be a fool, and be taken advantage of?
No punishment for the wicked?
No reward for the honest?

Prisons? I do not see Senator Ted Kennedy in prison. I do not see these GREEDY Oil Barons in prisons. I do not see these Hollywood SUPERSTARS and BIG ROCK STARS in prison.
Uhhh, what was that about morals?
If there is no afterlife, why worry about morals?

Answer 1

I think this is a reasonable question and deserves answering. Some here say that moral and ethical principles come from ourselves. I disagree. If you follow each principle back to its origin, you will find that some exemplary personage of extraordinary knowledge and wisom, who suffered severely, sacrificed extraordinarily, sometimes to the death, to make that principle known to humanity, and most importantly said that his knowledge as well as the knowledge of the others like him throughout history, did not come from themselves but rather from a higher creative power. It is from these divine educators and the knowledge systems that they bring from which we learn moral and ethical behavior. IMHO to fail to give credit where credit is due is in the least plagiarism.

Answer 2

Thats a pretty stupid way to live. Hurting others needlessly is wrong no matter how you look at it. That is why we do have rules here on earth. Laws. You can go to prison for living too carelessly.

Morals do not come from religion, but from yourself. If you are a person with absolutely no concept of any sort of morals, you are most likely a sociopath and belong in jail and/or on a lot of meds so you do not harm yourself.

And who said anything about their being no reward for the honest? Being honest can be very mentally and emotionally rewarding. You are someone people can trust, and you know that you are doing good in a world so full of evil.

Answer 3

Making a difference with the individual is the right thing to do. World Governments use religion to control the masses. They themselves know that there is no man living in a cloud. No religion can prove that an afterlife exists but it is the theme of most of the religions who concentrate on it. A religion like Buddhism concentrates on the present life which is where most people feel the need for enlightenment. The other religions should wake up. Gods lack of involvement with religion is obvious.

Answer 4

Virtue has its own reward. Why not do good purely for the sake of doing good? Isn't that more honest than doing good in the hopes of avoiding punishment or receiving a reward?


Oh, and murderers, rapists, oil barons, greedy businessmen---an awful lot of these people call themselves Christians.

Answer 5

You can be good to be good

Edit: After one person has starred I want to add more. People can be nice and not hurt others for example, being religious doesn't mean you are right - look at Fred Phelps, Pat Richardson or either pope. Morals and good do not rely on the bible for basis
A lot of religious people promote hatreds because they claim it's in the bible

Answer 6

Have you never heard of prisons?
Of course it makes a difference if we are evil or good and yes there is punishment for the wicked but only in this lifetime.
Contrary to what you may believe a vast majority of atheists are law abiding and have good moral standards.
Check out the atheist to christian ratio in the prisons.You might be surprised.

Answer 7

this is THE stupidest rant i've seen......i'm not even an atheist (i'm a hindu)...but it's still stupid and offensive....

now,atheism=non belief in God.....a lot of the abominable characters that you have described "Oil barons ,murderers,rapists " etc etc...DO believe in God....following the logic of some christians here they'd say "they aren't true christians" and yes,they aren't because they're not following the teachings of christ,but they are THEISTS nonetheless.since your questions is addressed to atheists,it gives the implication that atheists automatically have no morals and theists automatically (merely because they believe in God or Gods) have morals which is BULL!

this depends on the person.....and anyway,why would anyone need to believe in the supernatural to have morals? the 2 are not connected at all.

EDIT:theBerean: you're being very sarcastic and silly and it's people like YOU and the person who asked this question,who give all christians a bad name

Answer 8

The people who live like that are horrible people. The majority of us are not horrible people. I know that I, personally, would not be able to look at myself in the mirror every day if I was like them, so it is important to me to live a good life. I am not living an honest and good life for NOTHING. It makes me feel good inside myself to know that I am not a contributor to other's suffering.

Answer 9

IF THERE IS NO GOD,

then there isnt any reason not to do what you want. Just dont get caught doing something illegal and end up spending your one life in prison.

If there is no God, then there is not any "right" or "wrong". Just peoples opinions. And what do you care about anyone elses opinion anyway?

"Well", Someone might say, "Whatever is good for the betterment of Society as a whole, is what people should do".
"After all, we all have to live together, so THAT should be the rule on what right and wrong is".
But what do you care what betters Society, except as far as it benefits you personally? And after all, since there is always going to be people in this world who have more than others, why NOT be one of the "mores".

Your only going to get one "go around", right? You'd be a fool not to get everything there is to make your own life more pleasureable, even if its at the expense of some other poor sap who is stupid enough to limit himself by adhering to some sort of silly rule of societys idea of "right and wrong".

So get everything you can. Dont worry about what others think about you. As if their stupid little opinions counted for anything. After all, they're the ones shortchanging themselves. But you're smarter than that.

Any fool can see, that the only "rule" that makes any sense, is to do what ever makes YOU happy, and to heck with everything else. As long as you dont do something dumb and give someone an excuse to take away your "freedom of action", EVERYTHING thats GOOD for YOU is the only thing that matters, and thats whats RIGHT.

See what a world you have if there is no God, and no final Judgement?

"It is appointed unto man once to die, and after this, the Judgement".----Hebrews 9:27


...theBerean




TO VITHYA B:

Your critisism is noted. No problem. But I would still like to see a "logical" answer on why I , (I speak only for myself) if I were not a Christian, should NOT live a life with the attitude described above. It may not be the life you would choose, but it might very easily be the life I would choose, with no guilt at all. How would you prove to such a person that they are "wrong", if Right and Wrong is just a matter of each persons personal opinion? That was the point I was attempting to make.

Thank you for your comments.

Answer 10

If I understand your question correctly, you are suggesting that people without a faith in God, who do not believe in an afterlife, have no motivation to do good. Well, I would hesitate to go along with that because there are plenty "good" people out there who have no faith in a God. Goodness is not the perogative of people who claim to worship and follow God.

However, if a person believes there is no life after death, that there is no higher intelligence to whom we are accountable, then their motivation for doing either good or evil must surely be attributed to human nature. And what can we say about human nature? Some humans (without any belief in a God) do immesurable good and some humans (who claim to be God fearing) have done immesurable evil.

I take comfort from knowing that reward and punishment is dished out here and now, and will be dished out in the here and after. Obviously, I'm not an atheist, but I hope you won't mind me contributing to the answers. The God I worship tells us to love one another, even to loving ones enemies and to pray for those who persucte them. Jesus died a horrible death yet cried out "Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing".

Atheists may not believe in a Creator God, but God believes in them. Let God do the judging. On the final day of reckoning, we will be held accountable for our own actions, not those of other people. Leave it with God and trust him to sort it out, my friend.