Yesterday I asked some serious questions to atheists. I ask yet another:?

Question

Why should I not become a mass murderer? If it makes me happy, if I feel good doing it, and especially since there's no consequences for my actions beyond this lifetime, why shouldn't I just go out and slaughter whoever I want, whenever I want, as often as I want? Furthermore, what if I only murder people who are impacting the world in a very negative way, so that I leave the world a better place than when I got here, and a better, safer place to live for future generations? I ask this question seriously, and would appreciate serious responses only. This question is asked in light of the very respectful answers I got to my questions yesterday.

Answer 1

you will not become a mass murderer because you are mentally healthy. Only mentally ill people become mass murderers. You seem to be under the impression that morality is not natural, but it is. Do you honestly believe that a chimpanzee kills another chimpanzee just because he looked at him funny? Well, sometimes perhaps. Even apes go ape once in a while. But quite generally speaking there is a drive to care for others in every living thing. Of course there is also a drive to preserve oneself, but these two are in balance. We humans put our selfish and altruistic tendencies into words, and we come to think that it is the words that guide us. But they don't. Words only have meaning in context. And that context is our natural sense of morality.

Answer 2

You could become a mass murderer if you want to. Look at all the mass murderers throughout history who decided to be that way, for a variety of worldly and spiritual reasons. I don't think that's something that religion would prevent or promote. But if you're like most people, you are afraid of being sent to jail for the rest of your life and you actually give enough of a crap about the next person to allow them to live. I suppose if those two conditions wouldn't stop you, you would be able to become a mass murderer. I'll follow your story in the news and hope that you receive the maximum sentence.

Answer 3

Lol at no consequences for your actions.

It's funny how this question is asked time and time again, yet you never see any atheists going out and killing people and saying "HAHA HA HA THERE ARE NO CONSEQUENCES WOO_HOO".

Since you don't seem to understand the universalist appeal, such actions do not work for the individual (in your reward and punishment setting) because the individual will benefit if everyone gets along.

And there are more peaceful ways of self-defense.

Answer 4

If you look at the 'great' murderers of all time, most were raised in a strictly religious environment. Maybe it was a rebellious thing. It is possible to be a good person without doing it just for the sake of getting into heaven. If a person chooses to reject the church and all religions, it doesn't make them a bad person. I know atheists who are highly moral people and I know Christians who treat others like rubbish and generally disrespect everybody. Morality can be subjective, even to a Christian.

Answer 5

You should not become a mass murderer because there are consequences in THIS life. Prison and execution, not to mention the heartbreak of your family and the families of your victims. Only kill people who have a bad impact on the world? Will it be YOU deciding who is worthy to live and die? I hope you never make the wrong decision. Lack of religious belief does not equal lack of strong morals and ethics. One obeys "the rules" not for fear of eternal damnation but because it makes for a more harmonious society and a better life.

Answer 6

No matter what your belief is you still have to abide by the laws of society most of which have predated modern religions. Secular law says it is wrong to kill but I, like many others, don't even need that either. I inherently know it is wrong for me to take the life of another and would never do so based upon that.

Now yes, no matter what belief system or lack of belief that some people are raised in they will become mass murderers. However, mass murderers have severe psychological problems and are sociopaths who usually since early childhood by either choice or circumstance have been socially removed from society so they disassociate themselves with the laws that govern society.

Answer 7

Generally becoming a mass-murdered wont make a person happy, the idea alone usually doesnt com into the mind of a sane person.

A consequence is prison for the rest of you life.

For Killing only negative persons the same holds.

Answer 8

I'm not an athiest, but I do have a response.

Many people have killed in the name of religion. I don't mean wars. David Koresh and Heaven's Gate come to mind, as do Fatah al-Islam, Hamas and Hezbollah. A perfect example right now is Osama bin Laden.

The main problem with him is that his twisted perspective is based on "faith", so we can't simply have a logical conversation and explain to him that what he is doing is wrong.

In fact, I would believe it if I found out that more people have died as a result of the religious beliefs of others, than by the hand of Athiests.

Also, I always find myself losing respect for any person (Christian, Muslim or otherwise) who by their own moral code is acting properly only because of threats of punishment--or promises of reward--in the afterlife. That's just wrong!

In fact, I believe that most religions started out with the idea of helping people to grow spiritually, not to promise them streets of gold or virgins in Heaven. That still should be the central theme of any religion based on spirituality.

Why should future consequences or future rewards in an afterlife have anything to do with being spiritually pure and acting in a moral fashion?

Answer 9

Morality. It might make you happy, but it reduces the happiness of others. Although John Stuart Mill and others could never find a calculus of morality, this is obvious to all but the "devout". There's an old line that morality is what you do when no one is watching. If you are only good because you think God is watching, you are simply a sociopath who is afraid of the consequences of his actions, but has no morality whatsoever.

Answer 10

I'm not an atheist, but your assumptions in asking this question are ludicrous. Committing crimes has nothing to do with religion, it has to do with conscience and society. Atheists have every bit as much conscience as a religious person and follow laws as well (and often better) than anyone else. I would like to know how christians who murder abortion doctors justify THEIR actions when your religion tells them that only god can judge. They take it upon themselves to murder those whom they feel the world would be better off without. Everyone one of us, regardless of religion (or lack of) has people in mind whom we think the world could do without, but we don't go around murdering them.