As an atheist, what is the comeback you use when Christians accuse you of not having morals?

Answer 1

This (works beautifully if I do say so myself):

According to a survey of the religions of prison inmates (their religion at the time of committing the crime, ignoring in-jail conversion), atheists are about 50 times less likely to go to jail than Christians. Want proof? Yes, I'm sure you do. :P Here it is:

http://holysmoke.org/icr-pri.htm

About 80% of the US population is Christian.

According to the survey, a little over 80% of prison inmates are Christian. So that gives an unsurprising ratio, about 1:1. Pretty much 'normal.'

But atheists are something like 8-16% of the population (I'll lowball it and say 10% instead of the median 12 for both easier math and rounding down in the anti-atheist's favor). So, 10%.

According to the prison survey, about 0.2% (hey, if I can take 2-3% off the Christian number, I can take 0.01% off the atheist number for easier math) of inmates are atheist (read: there are more Scientologists in jail than atheists). So, what's the ratio here?

It's 0.2:10, which is equal to 1:50. One to FIFTY. That is a huge difference. It is pretty strong evidence to suggest, not that Christians are immoral, but that however moral Christians in the US are, atheists are much more so on average.

P.S. To reiterate, these statistics are of the religion AT THE TIME OF THE CRIME. It does not take any converting to other religions that happens after being jailed into account.

Answer 2

As a Christian, I have never compared my morals to any ones....


Frankly because the Bible does not teach morality. Morals by definition a societal norms. They are not God's law or particular domain.

God does not care if you are moral or amoral. He is concerned only with your relationship to Christ.

If you are looking for a "comeback" then simply ask them about Paul's morals before his conversion. However, I will say that if you are truly an atheist and have not studied (not read, but studied) the Bible to seek for yourself the Truth of God and are only basing your decision on the word of others then you are a hypocrite. But that is an argument for another time.



{edit} To Bob above. Learn some history before making asinine comments.

Lincoln was not an atheist.
First, a professed atheist would never have been elected president at that time in American history.
Second, some of Lincoln's writing have been used by the "Positive Atheism" movement. Being quoted by an organization that was founded 100 years after your death does no connect you to them
Third, President Lincoln often attended the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, although he never became a member. I attend a church regularly but am not a member.... does this make me an atheist????

I would encourage you to read "The Ambiguous Religion of President Abraham Lincoln" by Mark A. Noll

Answer 3

DESIREEEEE!!!! Tag... You're IT!

Awww.. c'mon out there!!! Some of you atheists out there are so NASTY, mean, and insulting! You can't even give a straight, decent answer when Desiree wants one! She's not looking for insults and crappy remarks! She's looking for at least a half-way decent answer to something that she's asked often enough, or has wondered about.... and ALL some of you "guys" can do is come up with insults and invectives!

I see that SOME of you ARE giving decent answers... yep... but I'm not speaking to you...

Even when answering another atheists question, you just cannot resist giving Christians a SHOT or two, can you? You give atheism a bad reputation. How are we Christians to respect you when that is what you dish out?

Oh, yeah, I hear you saying, "Yeah, but you Christians can be JUST as insulting!" Oh great... so two wrongs make a RIGHT? Are THOSE the MORALS you live by? I don't excuse anyone from bad behavior, Christian or others. But right now, I am addressing you... yes you... is it a "moral" thing to do to insult and disrespect others when you "demand" respect from those others? Think about it... or are your vulgarities so automatic (like a knee-jerk reaction) that you just can't HELP yourselves? Are you then simply animals with instincts and reactions and not thinking, reflective, self-disciplined, MORAL beings?

Sorry, Desiree... for not really answering your question. But I just had to express my bewilderment at how nasty some of the answers to your question have been.

Have a blessed day.

Answer 4

As a former atheist raised by atheist parents, my dad combatted it by BEING the most moral person he could be. Actions speak louder than words.

Morality though is not what gets anyone into heaven. Its believing that Christ is the Son of God, that He died on the Cross for your sins and rose again.

So whatever Christian was arguing about morality may have been missing the point and making Christianity appear legalistic.

Answer 5

No Christian should question your morality. Morality is not the basis of Christianity. It is belief and faith. Morality not only depends on the individual but also the culture. In Middle Eastern cultures it is considered moral to circumcise a woman but here it is not. Morality and religious belief while they do play a part in each other, are completely different concepts.


Coming from a christian.

Answer 6

Atheists have morals. They just have no rational basis for morality. It is a residual memory of Christianity.

Come to think about it, morality in atheists is the opposite of original sin, a persistent virtue that continues to infect atheists with occasional good deeds.

The problem is that when morality is based on habit and personal preference rather than allegiance to the Creator, the atheist stands little chance against serious temptation.

Answer 7

It's never happened but I'd like to think I was quick enough to say morals are a things invented to ensure a level of harmony in society.
Or
If the bible was a recipe for a moral society how come USian kultcha breeds, per capita, more criminals than any other country in the western world.

Answer 8

I am a christian and if any christian accused you of anything then they were wrong. We are not supposed to accuse or judge anybody, but be loving and compassionate to them no matter what they believe. If I were you I would have walked away. But keep in mind that christians aren't perfect so whoever told you that probably didn't mean to hurt you like they did.

Answer 9

i never said atheists have no morals, see your talking about an ignorant Christian who doesn't respect other peoples beliefs. Dont put every Christian into a category. Thats like me saying that all atheists hate all Christians.

Answer 10

I ask them if the only reason they do good things is because they're afraid of an afterlife punishment.

Hey, after all, that's pretty much what they're implying when they say that I don't have morals because I don't believe in a personal god.