Atheists: Why be nice to other people?

Question

I'm honestly interested in knowing what the basis for helping others would be if you don't believe in God--doesn't that go against Darwinian evolution? It seems illogical to not just be concerned with your own needs, if we are not connected in some higher way.

It seems that certain religions have contributed a lot to our idea of the right way to treat others--I just wondered what an atheist would say is the origin of their respect of humanity.

My question is a sincere wish for enlightenment--thanx for any insight you can give!

The rationale behind my personal compassion and connection with others is because I feel we are all "family" created by one God. I asked this because I'm genuinely interested in others' thoughts--logic is appreciated, insults unnecessary.

Did I ever SAY I was a Christian? I believe Jesus had great ideas, but that's about as much as I can believe.

Answer 1

Good morning: I am glad you are thinking!

The cool thing about the theory of evolution is that it provides a framework for examining things such as the idea of altruism.

What happens within a population of humans who help each other? Chances are that during the time when the human species was forming, people were mainly interacting with related kin. Humans are pretty helpless by themselves. We don't have ferocious claws, we can't climb trees very quickly or borrow into the ground to escape from others. Cooperative living suits humans very well. We don't have huge weapons as hands but we have huge brains that allow us to interact and do things in groups better than we can do them alone. We can communicate in complex ways that other animals cannot, so working in groups and adapting quickly to changes is an advantage that other creatures don't have.

Groups of humans who were nice to each other and helped each other out were more likely to be successful in raising their children to have more children. Groups which were not helpful or nice to each other had less success. Over time, the groups who were more cooperative and altruistic would have a reproductive advantage over groups that were backstabers. Those mean people could not adequately take advantage of humans biggest attribute - our brains.

I hope that gives you something to think about.

Answer 2

>I'm honestly interested in knowing what the basis for helping others would be if you don't believe in God

The existence of sentient desire in the Universe automatically implies a certain morality which, while it leaves helping other people up to each person to choose for themselves, at least says not to go around harming others. Logic itself outlines a set of rights for people and gives reasons for not infringing upon those rights.

>doesn't that go against Darwinian evolution?

It is a completely ridiculous yet surprisingly common misconception that atheists who believe in evolution ought to think that accelerating the pace of evolution- by whatever means- is a good thing. This of course has no basis in fact. As an atheist, I want to avoid harming other people just as much as- and probably more than- most religious people, and if that slows down evolution, so be it. Besides, our civilization is at the stage now where biological evolution of humans is pretty much at an end; within the next few centuries, we will have modified ourselves far beyond what evolution could have done over billions of years.

>It seems that certain religions have contributed a lot to our idea of the right way to treat others

Yeah, religions tell you to do moral things like condemn homosexuals, make masturbation a capital crime, take away the freedom to have abortions, censor books like Satanic Verses and The Da Vinci Code and prevent important medical research from being done. You know, all that stuff that's for everyone's good and totally moral and okay, right?

Oh, wait...

Answer 3

If you're thinking that helping other people somehow brings us down or that that was Darwin's theory, you're off base. The basic principle behind Darwin's thinking was that the strongest of every species survive and carry on to evolve. So when you're being chased by a predator, the fastest animals get away while the slowest are eaten. The same holds true in our culture. The strongest, the smartest, the most cunning, continue to advance in life while the others are left to fend for themselves, so to speak. Does that mean that someone with a college education, driving a Mercedes, living in a mansion shouldn't donate his time or money to help orphans or people with disabilities? Not at all. And he doesn't NEED to have some holy book tell him to do so. He can recognize the need and his ability to contribute something useful to that cause and do so without hurting himself, endangering his survival or sacrificing his own needs.

Compassion isn't taught by a book!

Answer 4

Religion is not the basis of morals or ethics. Evolution is. All social animals, including humans, have some form of ethics, at least within their group.

Why Christians Must Steal From Secular Morality:
http://www.caseagainstfaith.com/submissions/steal_morality.htm
Christians must steal their moral rules from secular morality. They have no choice, as the Bible does not offer a moral system, it only offers a series of contradictory commands and a supposed threat of punishment in the "afterlife" for not following them - a punishment that is given equally to all violators - whatever the sin.

The Bible does nothing and can do nothing towards inculcating moral behavior on its own. Christians must steal from secular moral systems, and then merely graft their 'God threats' on top of this moral system. This is necessary. And the reason for this is simple: there is no morality in the Bible and there can be no morality in the Bible, because the Bible holds that 1) ALL 'sins' are equivalent (destroying any moral sense) AND 2) all moral behavior is immaterial, because works cannot save a person, AND finally all people are damned from birth.

In reality, Christians realize that some actions are more moral than others. They realize that moral actions exist in a hierarchy, and that rape is far worse than stealing a pencil. Yet the Bible holds that all 'sins' are equal, as all deserve the same punishment.

Christians also realize that humans can be moral agents... they expect moral behavior from others, and they view their own children as something to value. Yet the Bible holds that man is worthless, that he cannot be a moral agent, and that his sole salvation comes from grace. However, since Christians realize, implicitly, that all of these these points are obviously, prima facie false, they must steal from secular systems, that hold that 1) man obviously has a value 2) all 'sins' are obviously not equivalent and 3) a person cannot be held to be doing anything 'immoral' without intent.


~ "A mind is a terrible thing to waste." ~

Answer 5

Honey I don't want to start an argument, but I was very religious for 39 years, the church people caused me the most trouble, I could go into detail but the most common was the arrogant idea that God loved them more than he loved the less fortunat and minorities.

I treat people the way I'd lie to be treated, even if they're a wholes. We should help people who need it, and not just pray for them, There are still dead bodies frozen in New Orleans, Did praying help them? Did a Christian or Jewish undertaker volunteer to embalm and bury them?

Hers's something religions do: Tell boys to go to war and now girls, and that they'll pray for them"
Teach intollerance, race,sexual, gender,religious, and are the ones likely to abuse their authority and hurt children, many religions are being sued by children now.

Ever heard of an atheist lecturer being arrested for raping 2000 boys or another from Utah raping 50 cub scouts, or another in the deep south who takes girls in the woods to find snakes for the services and has sex with all 3 of them?

I searched and I couldn't find any butr if there are I'm sure the clergy has them beat.

Thers your answer,don't be mad at me I'm the messenger

Answer 6

If humans didnt work together, we'd be stuck in a world with no technology, no resources, no nothing.

it is the natural human state to exist in a unit, and so we have to have a way of getting along.

and all the real atheistis. (the ones not crying about there faith(well lack of)) are nice people. For 2 reason. 1) Carma (of sorts) they feel that they would do something for someone else they would w2ant to happen..... look at this example

Aethist walks down broadway and sees a guy fall down. He lends the guy a hand to help him up and get him on his feet. Only becuse if he had fallen down, he'd want the help up.

the other reason is becuse going and being an a$$hole is the best ay not to get what you want. So essentially its either to just let your self act natural, or cause its simply easier and more satisfying.

Answer 7

We are nice towards other people because we don't need a namby pamby religion that's all made up, to tell us how to behave. We know that you have to do good. "Wie goed doet, goed ontmoet" is said over here, which can be roughly translated as "who does good, will be treated well in return".

PLUS, as an added bonus, we don't do that because of ulterior motives, such as, for example, jamming our religion down someone's throat. We just respect humans, no matter which religion they are from. Not unlike... well, you get the idea.

Christians, on the other hand, are only good towards other people because they'll be rewarded in the afterlife, so they think, or at least not punished by the guy in the sky.

Answer 8

So you telling me that compassion is the proprietary of Christianity???

Survival of the fittest, does not mean that we should keep sacrificing each other. Even in the animal kingdom, where the law is more obvious, we still have creatures living together as a community, working n a cohesive environment.

As human beings, its is already within our nature, as we are sociable creatures. We are not solitary animals that just try to outdo one another.

Its true that religion gives us a code of ethics and morals, but we learn, since young, about the concept of right and wrong.
Our parents would admonish us for the wrongs we do, and applaud us for the right things we do.

It has been so for thousands of years. Some places have never had the concept of God and do not subscribe to it. However, they still have similiar notions of right and wrong

Answer 9

Not all atheist or agnostics accept survival of the fittest, just like many "religious" folk operate as if they do.

My extensive experience with atheists is that they are moral people who treat others well. Of course there are exceptions, but many Chrisitans fail to do the right thing a good bit of the time also. There morality is an inner personal morality based upon doing what is right, without fearing retribution.

We do not have to fear punishment to do the right thing and sometimes in spite of possible punishment people do the right things. ie Marin Luther King, Rosa Parks, etc.

God is a great source of morality, as are Bhudda and Ghandi and many others. People can have morality in the absense of God.

Answer 10

I'm not an Atheist, however I was raised completely without religion, nor do I in my adulthood subscribe to any religion, organised, or otherwise.

My belief is that you should be nice to everyone- until they are NOT nice to you. My reason for this is that I expect people to treat me with a certain amount of respect, and I could not realistically expect that, if I didn't set that example in the first place.

All you need to do is look at the animal kingdom (humans included) to see that aggression is pretty much always met with aggression. You have a better chance of achieving your objective by first approaching things in a calm and polite manner. Everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt.

Once someone proves themselves to be an inconsiderate moron, then it's OK to treat them as such.