Atheists. If there is no G-d, who decides what is good or bad?

Question

Please, I'm not trying to piss anyone off, but I'm serious.

Logically, if there is no G-d, there is no such thing as good and evil right? I mean, who decides what is good and what is bad if it is not G-d?

I'll admit it would be possible for man to come up with some on his own. However, even though man might enforce rules, breaking those rules wouldn't necessarily be bad would it?

If you look at it this way, someone like Hitler and Mother Theresa could be considered the same, which is a rather disgusting thought.

My apologies if this question has been asked before. But I just was curious.

Also, my logic is not flawed.

I know, I don't do things like that because of common sense too. But what says that I'm right about that if there is no G-d?

No my o key is not broken, I'm Jewish, so i can't write the full thing. Moron.

By the way, I hope everyone not answernig thequestion seriously know that I'm in the process of reporting you all :)

Ok, say it is hardwired into us. Who did that? Surely having morals isn't an evolutionary advantage because it keeps you from getting things you want.

Answer 1

they do...

Answer 2

People decide what is good and bad (evil).

Actually your religion is more likely to treat Hitler and Mother Theresa the same. If Hitler repented he could go to heaven along side the Mother Theressa..
We on the other hand hold people responsible for their actions during their lifetime. I think being jailed or even loosing your life would be bad. That is all there is, there is no eternity for an individual, so no we can not offer eternal punishment. There just is no such thing.

Edit:
Being moral or good is an evolutionary advandtage. Evolution is about the perpetuation of our species. Killing eachother wouldn't get us very far. Most higher animals have some kind of empathy for their own kind.

Answer 3

Society does. Always had. That's who wrote your Bible. Societies leaders. What they deem ok. Back then they thought that it was ok for a rapist to marry the girl and that would make things ok. Also, nature does. Some things like murder is not good for a species, so therefore, people who murder are obviously out. Also, since the Enlightenment we are basing societies morals off of what we believe to be universal rights of men. Finally, now we can base it off of Psychology and Sociology. The more we discover the better we can mak society. It does us no good to cling to old ways that say to spare the rod spoil the child. We now know that that's not ture. So you see, god has never made the rules, if he did he wouldn't make rules that are obviously aginst what has been shown to be untrue.

Oh and Mother Theresa was douche bag, just for the record.

Answer 4

God has never decided right and wrong for anybody. All laws, and all scripture was thought out by people. We don't have a single scrap of paper from "god".
When the "holy" books say that the contents were sent from "god". You can believe it or not.
Good and bad come from civilization. People living together. The group protecting the individule. They made laws to protect the weak from th strong. Trial and error showed them what works and what does not work.
Starting back in the stone age when they made rules , " You steal, we smash your hand with rock ". " You kill someone, we all together kill you ".
Good and bad are decided by common sense, but by "god".
The above paragraph answers your question about breaking rules.
How you ever concluded that Mother Theresa and Hitler could be considered the same, sure gets by me. Nothing in your arguement points to that. Please don't let your imagination get away from you. Take it easy. Join the world.

Answer 5

There is a twist to this question in that if you consider for a moment that there is no god then people have already been deciding what is good and evil or right and wrong since the beginning. I am not asking you to stop believing in God but just to put your mind around that thought for a minute or too.....see religion is simply part of the process that people came up with to distinquish between good and evil. We have already been doing it although I admit not very successfully at many times. And it also follows that as our understanding of ourselves and our society and universe grows and changes then so does our concepts of good and evil. A good example which was mentioned earlier is the concept of slavery which was defended by use of the Bible for centuries and now no sane person would advocate as being "good" . Congrats you have just stepped out of "the box" for a minute now you can go back in if you want but you can always "choose " to come back out later

Answer 6

Morality is goal based. Thus, morality is decided by the Self, the Tribe, the Other, and the Us.

The fundamentals of morality, empathy and altruism, arise from evolutionary pressure. They are evolutionarily advantageous to the species, even if at times disadvantageous to the individual.

So who determines good/evil, right/wrong?

People do.

And yes, morally, Hitler and Mother Theresa are perfectly equal now -- dead.

Sleep tight.

Answer 7

Well although I get your point as in the bible, God spoke the first rules of life and law followed behind it, then Jesus came and lightened the law because he knew he would save the world from God's wrath, however one can easily argue that Law was here before the bible and Law was in the bible and man made law etc... so it's really difficult for them to understand that the bible came first ...... not the law.

Chicken and egg theory.

Answer 8

There has always been good and evil and no-one with any common sense needs an imaginery friend or a Holy Book of the Talking Donkey to explain it to them or help them tell the difference.

What saddens me is that religionists seem to be unable to tell the difference between good and evil without reference to the aforementioned friend and book. Most people who do not believe in god have a pefectly developed sense of good and evil of their own and do not need to be told what to think or do.

God (that's spelt with an "o" in the middle, btw - wow look I typed the word and wasn't stuck by lightning!!) didn't decide what's good or evil. People with no concept of god still know good from bad, still develop their own rules, laws and taboos, still punish bad behaviour and praise good behaviour. Long before god was invented by man when tribal people worshipped spirits in rocks and trees there was still a firmly established concept of what good and bad were.

Answer 9

Who decides? mankind, society, the individual....... That doesn't necessarily mean the decision is alwasy the right one it is just what was decided. At one time Slavery was thought to be right but we have sence change that decision and now feel it is wrong. What is right and wrong changes from one point in time to the next.

If there was a "god" then he would know what is right an wrong and be able to give us a comprehensive list of things to do or not to do, not just a little list of 10.

Answer 10

Humanity came up with the labels of 'good' and 'bad'. these words can only be applied to something capable of understanding them (ie only a human, not a natural event or a plant or animal.)

However, the concepts do exist outside Man in the sense that they cannot be defined by one human alone, so in order to define good and bad correctly, one does not make a decision so much as objectively observe and evaluate.

Answer 11

Man created the concept of god to enforce what THEY felt was right or wrong.

Morality & "right & wrong" are all relative...... Do you think hitler was wrong when he was doing what he did? I highly doubt it.

It's like the phrase "One man's hero is another man's villian"..... One man's right is another man's wrong.

Human beings DO NOT need a god figure to dictate what is right and what is wrong. they do not need the bible to tell them what is right or wrong....... For f*ck's sake, the story of the daughters raping their father because they wanted to have sex ........ how is that book a moral guide for anyone? There's incest, rape, and murder/genocide in that book than in any book i've ever read. How can people claim that you need god to know the difference between good & evil when the bible (god's irrefutable word) doesn't even seem to explain it well in the first place? I mean, if satan is so evil why does got associate with him and feel the need to prove a bet with him in regards to Job's faithfulness? Seriously!