Atheist a morality question??

Question

As a Christian I base my morality on Biblical principals. Now how do you as an atheist decide was is immoral or moral? Is the legal law enough morality for you or is that even to extreme? So what is your ruler for right and wrong?? Is there such a thing in your eyes?? Please only serious answers.

Maybe I should of putting measureing stick instead of ruler for one person. For others you do base alot of your morality on Bible principals, One mention not to steal another not to kill. Someone mention the golden rule. All Biblical principals. Morality does come from religious beliefs of some kind. Even if only taken for that basic rule. It is like laws in U.S. are built on Christian principals. You take them out what do you get.

One more thing I never said those who were atheist were rapist and murders.

It seems alot of people are trying to turn this question around and judging God instead of answer the question about their own morality. They also seem to forget the Bible is not just about God but about man's failings as humans and how God impacted there life. It does not mean that man always walked as they should, but God was always consistent with His decisions.

Answer 1

Well, actually, if you base your morality on Biblical principals you actually fall lower on Kohlburg's morality scale than I would. There are 6 stages and the earlier are those who have no care for anybody and break laws, ect. The middle are rule followers. That would be you since you believe in divine command theory. Then the people at the end of the spectrum base their moralities on a situational basis for what is good for everybody. I have empathy, I have a brain with which to have logical thought about why it would not be good or would be good to do things. Also, some people are on level 6 at age 6, while others are at level 1 at 90. Which means, really, that morality comes from within the person, and to some degree is also taught. I have always had great empathy for others. As a child I hated to see others suffer and I was raised atheist. I base my morality on my feelings, and that even means breaking a law in which I feel is not for the betterment of society. I also base my decisions on a universal morality. There are certain things every culture values, not just the Christian one. You do not have the claim on morality. Hope this makes sense. I am ******* tired.

Answer 2

Sure, I'll answer seriously. Seriously, the Bible was not the first instance of morals on the planet. The 10 commandments does not even cover most morals. All it comes down to is not to kill or steal. Big deal. Most of the commandments are about worshipping God and obeying your parents. What kind of moral code is that? I wish you theists could get over your Bible morals. Even the Golden Rule was in existence 500 years before Jesus. Every society...Christian or not...has had moral codes. Do you think it's really that difficult to realize that it's wrong to do harm to others when you know what it's like to have that stuff done to you? Yeah...legal laws are a big clue to morals, but your conscience is the biggest guide for any mentally healthy person over the age of six. Have you ever wondered if you did not have your religion as a brake, would you then commit crimes...rape...steal...murder? Of course not. No one would that wasn't a sociopath.

atheist

Answer 3

That which hurts you, or others is immoral to a greater or lesser degree depending on how much. That which helps you or others, or makes yourself or others happy is moral to a greater or lesser degree depending on how much. All else is grey as it doesn't seem to have much significance if it doesn't do any of that.

You seem to be under the absurd delusion that religion invented such rules as not to steal or murder just because it says these things in the bible. These rules are there because stealing and murdering hurt people. It is amoral to hurt people for the obvious reasons, not the bizarre one that some god being told you to.

I practically feel privileged not to be such a depraved immature maniac that I require a god being to tell me that those things are wrong.

(I was not saying you were one or that any religious person is, I was merely making an example of how absurd it sounds when you claim that the bible invented such principles (which suggests that if it were not for the bible then those things wouldn't be considered amoral))

Answer 4

If you don't have a sense of what's right or wrong, without needing a holy book to tell you, then aren't you the immoral one?

Laws aren't built on Christian principals either. Stealing is a punishable offense because it harms the group, not because some invisible sky being would be angry if we didn't punish the culprit. You're drawing a conclusion based on similarities.

Answer 5

i ask your self, how a philosophical instructor can consider this stupid thought! a million) If ethical merely grew to become into the belief of a god and not something, it could be dispensable. yet whilst ethical has a objective, we don't want a god for it! we will additionally locate our own ethical rules, interior the comparable way, we detect mathematical rules. ethical is a superpersonal thought, like maths. So it incredibly is by skill of definition no longer the introduction of someone, or perhaps no longer a god ones! 2) If we get ethical from the Bible, then the comparable problems with a million) are counting! And: We could no longer appraise the bible morally. I guess, your instructor won't spare ethical... yet i think, your instructor is an somewhat stupid one: whilst he's a philosophical instructor, has he ever examine Kant? Buddha? Kungfutse? all of them have written and shown, that ethical does not come from a god. Buddhists and taoists are additionally atheists.

Answer 6

I concur with Alan

So let me get this straight, According to "biblical principals [sic]" It's OK for:
1: Lot to rape his daughters,
2:it's OK to commit genocide,
3: kill all the male members of another tribe when you need their women for your wives,
4: Hold slaves (but only from the nations that surround you, Canada and Mexico OK?)
5 Sell your Daughters into slavery


I could go on into the hundreds....
Your biblical principles are not moral enough for me.... I use a Moral Humanist's lens to make morality choices...

Answer 7

I guess my morality is based on what i consider is right or wrong which is a little bit of legal law and some of the religious principles. The religious principles don't belong to the faithful believers but to everyone. The way I see it is that what is moral and immoral is common sense in the eye of the beholder.

Answer 8

as an athiest, you are the judge of your own actions. you don't have to worry about anyone else judging you and telling you what is right and wrong, because you decide yourself. Being an athiest is the most pure way of life you can choose, where there are infinite possibilities and no regret or hesitation. It's funny how religion makes people think that you have to have a "ruler" at all times, but why would god give us free will if he didn't want us to rule our own lives? ask yourself that.

Answer 9

The Golden Rule will answer most questions of morality and ethics. We are, unfortunately, selfserving individuals for the most part. But with some education and some practice we can put ourselves in other people's shoes and look at our actions towards them.

It's fairly simple once you practice it.

From there you can graduate to "Do The Right Thing Because It Is The Right Thing To Do". This is, I would judge, the highest form of morality. Much, much better than either a) doing something because you want it done back to you, and b) doing something because you are ordered to.

Answer 10

Do you mean that you've never met or heard of a moral person that is not a Christian? How sad.

But personally, I'd trust a person who chooses not to kill me because of personal conviction far more than one who chooses not to kill me for fear of reprisal from an unseen God. Especially when the believer also believes that God will forgive him later anyway.

And the biblical "principals" you quote did not originate in the bible. (No one is saying that they are necessarily wrong as morals, they are just not divinely inspired) Most are either predated by earlier writings, and/or are independently repeated in cultures with no knowledge of the bible, making them human truths repeated in the bible, not biblical truths repeated by humans.

It's like finding your name in the phone book, and claiming that the phone book is the origin of your name.