Could intelligent people given opinions on this line of reasoning?

Question

Where do atheists get morals from without the ten commandments or the bible. The best answer says that they existed before they were written in stone.
I would maintain that an atheist's morals come from this same place.

Hopefully this link works:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Aqlg3qfkOvMgMUK_xU9ez0Tty6IX?qid=20070621160127AAQfMyS

Answer 1

I agree that Atheist morals come from the same place as religious people. We just aren't silly enough to give some invisible friend the credit.

Answer 2

The Vedic scriptures existed thousands of years before the
bible was even a gleam in the eye of any of it's authors, and contained it those Vedic scriptures where a set of moral codes essentially identical to what would eventually become the ten commandments. Now you can do your silly little thumbs down thing, but you should use those thumbs to turn the pages of the Vedic scriptures and discover some truth
for a change.

Answer 3

This question is asked quite a bit.
I believe, some of our ethics are inherent. Empathy is a quality possessed by not just humans, many other animals display it. Society helps shape our ability to empathize and understand it is not good for our species as a whole to harm each other.

The bible may teach basic right from wrong in a very rote way, it does not teach empathy.

Answer 4

The human species has a basic morality. It is inate. Some lose it along the way and others have to be told what it is, but it is part of the human species. it existed before there was anything like religion.

Answer 5

The serpent told Eve "then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."

Indeed, when they ate of the tree.."And the eyes of them both were opened,"

In the garden of Eden, God told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. That was their only law and they couldn't even follow that one.

From then on, they knew right from wrong, good and evil and eventually the laws, which were original spoken by God to the people, were written down.

This was the start of all laws and morality that we follow today. Because these first laws were spoken by God and then written down, prior to any other civilizations, every human on this earth is essentially following God's laws whether they choose to accept them or not.

All of our laws are based on God's laws.

Answer 6

Morals are taught by one's parents, and society. God, the Bible, and religion are totally unnecessary. In fact, the God of the Bible repeatedly COMMANDS his followers to kidnap, enslave, torture, rape, forcibly abort, and kill people. Anyone who DOES get his morals from God or the Bible is NOT to be trusted. READ the ENTIRE Bible and SEE what it REALLY says.

Answer 7

I know and understand atheists reasoning but really you can't because it's just all an opinion. Are you judging on how people feel? So does that mean that the dentist is evil?

Answer 8

What I'd like to know is, why are Christians so concerned with our morals at all? Shouldn't they just be concerned with their own? Before condemning the mote in your brother's eye, attend to the beam in your own, right?

Answer 9

first define morality................
umm..................outside from GOD telling us what's what, morality does not exist.........its simply that GOD gave these laws to Adam orally at first, say dont eat THAT fruit, then say dont kill, and so on.........before HE gave the laws written in stone to the Jews...............these orally transmitted laws stuck with all peoples, where ever they went, although direct communication from GOD was given mainly to the Jews(I say mainly cause thier is no way i could claim HE only spoke to the Jews and no one else....fact i think the Bible says HE often chose Gentiles to speak(i think ill study that soon, Lord willing)) So we remember the easy laws don't kill and Love GOD, although many would soon forget who GOD is.........
and these laws would base every nation on Earth, though distorted as could be made...................

Answer 10

Man is self-conscious as well as world-conscious. He wants to have more and more knowledge of himself and the world. His evolution, progress and happiness depend on these two kinds of knowledge. Which of these two kinds of knowledge is of greater importance and which of lesser? It is not so simple to answer this question. Some attach more importance to the knowledge of oneself and others to the knowledge of the world. One reason of the difference in the answer to this question may be a difference in the way of thinking of the East and the West. Another reason may be the difference in the outlook of science and faith. Science is the means of knowing the world whereas faith is the outcome of self-consciousness.

Anyway, science tries to make man aware of himself in the same way as it tries to make him aware of the world. Various branches of psychology bear this responsibility. But the self-consciousness given by science is dull and lifeless. It does not enliven the spirit of man nor does it awaken his dormant faculties. In contrast, the self-consciousness provided by religion makes man aware of his reality, removes his apathy, fires his soul and makes him compassionate and sympathetic. That task cannot be undertaken by any science or philosophy. Not only that, science and philosophy sometimes even add to man's insensitiveness and make him oblivious of himself. That is why many scientists and philosophers are insensitive and selfish like the proverbial dog in the manger. They are unconscious of their selves while many an uneducated man is self-conscious.