Are law abiding Atheists more individually responsible than religious people?

Question

Besides what is governed by law Atheists are unable to use religion/doctrine as a guide to forge their personalities and daily behaviour, so they must instead rely on themselves to ascertain and develop morals to be good people.

Religious people, however, choose to rely on religion/doctrine to forge their personalities and everyday behaviour so their own opinion matters less when they ascertain and develop morals to be good people.

Therefore Atheists/Agnostics have purer morals because their morals are not tainted by peer group pressure. They just want to be good for no other apparent reason.

Terry O - please read the question again. It was asked WITHOUT regard to ordinary law. Most of the other could work that out.

Answer 1

There is also this... Christians make up about 75% of the US population and 75% of the US prison population. No big surprise there.

Atheists, on the other hand, make up about 10% of the US population... but they only make up 0.2% of the US prison population. Now, isn't THAT a surprise? That means that on a per-capita basis, atheists are FIFTY (50) times LESS LIKELY to be incarcerated than Christians. Pretty strange, huh, for a group that has no god-given guiding moral principals?

I can only think of two possibilities that might reasonably be said to account for this discrepancy:

1. Atheists are of a higher ethical and moral caliber than Christians, and thus are less prone to do the same kinds of nasty things that land so many Christians in the slammer;

OR,

2. Atheists are, overall, a lot smarter than Christians and thus, they are less likely to get caught in the course of their transgressions.

It's GOT to be one or the other... take your pick.

(Statistics from US Bureau of Prisons, 1997)

Answer 2

I'm atheist, and no matter how hard I try, I can't bring myself to be evil.

I don't know why! No fear of hell, no reward of heaven...no creed of code...and yet, I can't help but be helpful, happy, cheerful and giving.

I WANT to be a jerk more often. I WANT to screw others over so I can get mine.

But I don't. And Ihave no clue why.

I guess I'm just doomed to be a good person, atheist or not.

Oh well.

By the way, duck, you forgot option #3...highly educated people are more likely to become atheist, and thus, those likely to be atheist are unlikely to turn to crime, being highly educated. Educated does not mean intelligent, so it's not quite the same as being smarter...but one seems to help the other.

Oh, and terry...as for slavery...the bible commands slaves to obey their masters, and condones genocide. There is your higher law. There is your third reich. Hitler slung about a lot of religious law to get people to buy into his laws. So did the spanish inquisition. So did the 9/11 terrorists.

Always amusing (sad, that is) to see the one thing retarded people know is jesus. Parents drill that into the poor kids...instead of drilling into them how to walk to the bus-stop, tie their own shoes, or how to cook.

Answer 3

I think that a chef who never uses a recipe is perhaps creative. The meal might be better or worse than "the norm".

Who chooses which law should be followed? If you don't accept the law of others, what is "good"? If I set my own law for myself I can do anything, including harming others and call it "good".

Answer 4

Well, it is true that Atheists are less likely to be incarcerated and less likely to be divorced than any other group in the United States. IMO it has something to do with finding your own center as opposed to looking for some outside source to do it for you.

Answer 5

Clearly. However for most sane people religion only forms a small part of their life and does not govern much of their day to day behaviour. For most people it would be hard to distinguish their morality based on their religious beliefs.

Answer 6

I counter your view with another question: What does it matter what atheists do, good or bad, since they don't believe in anything after this life? Yes, Christians believe that there is accountability with eternal consequences, but we also choose to be moral or not, just as atheists do, just for different reasons. Is it more moral to do good just because you want to than to do good because it impacts your future beyond this life? I could, believing in God, easily choose not to care, as many do, and do evil as much as I desired and, according to atheists, be just as justified in doing so since it's what I wanted to do. But there is accountability to the Creator to be taken into consideration. If there's no reason to do or not to do a thing, there's no benefit in choosing to do either one, so your vaunted morality just got shot right out the window.

Answer 7

But if everyone relies on their own vision of "morals", then we have about a billion interpretations of what is right and wrong. What I see as wrong will be right in the eyes of many. The result is anarchy.

Answer 8

Dude, I'm not atheist but I agree with you. Many religious people put their religious laws ahead of the laws of the land, and they sometimes conflict. We've seen what happens in that case.

Answer 9

No. If you just follow man-made laws without an inner moral guide from a higher power, you end up with the Third Reich. The excuses from Nazis at the Nuremburg trial were "it was the law", or "I was just following orders". That's not good enough. Any manmade law which contradicts the laws of God is not authentic law. By your reasoning, you would have been okay with the Supreme court decisions that allowed slavery, just as you are probably okay with the Supreme court decisions that allow abortion.

Answer 10

not me. i'm an atheist and my morals can be a bit suspect.
wouldn't do anything to harm anyone tho.