If all there is, is this existence....?

Question

Religion has played an influence on the laws that define right & wrong and what is moral in almost every nation on Earth. Christianity for example heavily influenced laws in the US and Europe.

If there is no God, no life after death and therefore no fear of being held responsible for what we do here on earth, what purpose does morality have?

If this is all there is to existence, ultimately it would seem right & wrong are irrelevant and all that truly matters is how one chooses to make the best of this life, even if that means indulging in the most evil and wicked of behavior/actions.

The candle that burns the brightest, also burns the shortest.

It seems in the Atheist universe, being the candle that burns brightest and the one that is long remembered, should be the goal of every human, even if the path is one of evil and destruction.

From a Atheist perspective, God is man-made (the result of imagination) and therefore irrelevant.

Morality is also man-made, so if I use the logic of an Atheist, what is morally right or wrong in a finite existence where humans are nothing more than a clump of atoms, is also irrelevant.

It seems the end justifies the means, since there is no consequence beyond this existence in the Atheist universe.

Answer 1

I think I understand what you are trying to say.

On one hand a few Atheist on this forum love to bash religion as being "man-made" and yet cling to "man-made" morals out of convenience. Such is the illogical nature of humans.

But not all Atheist are as intolerant as some of the ones on this forum and many who do not believe in a God, can see the positive impact religion can have on society. Not all Atheist see only the negatives.

I myself am a Deist. I don't follow any specific religion, as I don't believe God plays a direct hand in the lives of mortals or chooses one group of people over another. To me God is the force that made creation possible - Whether it's the beginning of this Universe or or the beginning of some larger multiverse. To me, religion is simply a means of trying to understand God.

I do believe God loves all people and only those who are truly wicked in nature have to fear God. So I do not believe someone can act however they want in this life without consequences if their deeds are evil in nature, I do believe there is more to our existence then our current mortality.

Answer 2

Morality doesn't come from religion, it's part of the evolution of social animals.

* * *

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.

* * *

Origin of the 10 commandments:
http://www.atheistalliance.org/outreach/news-2002_spring.php
http://www.rationalrevolution.net/articles/ten_commandments.htm

Morality Without God:
http://www.atheists.org/Atheism/cohen.html

Morals Without Gods:
http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=library&page=sharris_26_3

Answer 3

Morals have absolutely nothing to do with any "gods" . Morals and laws are the result of civilization. Sure , the churches teach morals , but no church originated them .
Civilized people know right from wrong . The Golden Rule teaches a great deal .
The cave men followed morals . They made rules to protect the weak from the strong , to protect each others property ,to care for the injured , the weak , and the sick .
Then the present-day churches came along, and claimed people would be slaughtering each other if it wasn't for their teaching. Baloney !
Why doesn't the church follow the whole basis of religion - - the ten commandments ? Thou shalt not steal . Yet the churches stole credit for morals that pre-dated them by many centuries .

Answer 4

This is a rather long winded version of an atheist drinking question. It's really simple to understand. Civilization was created by those in the middle as a protection from the opportunism of the alpha male. We get together and we make rules. If people don't want to follow the rules, we gang up on them and remove them from the population. We do this so we, the majority in the middle, can live less stressful lives. Morality has nothing to do with it.

Answer 5

Not all atheists believe there is no life after death.

How is "indulging in the most evil and wicked of behavior/actions" living an enjoyable life? That sounds repugnant, and most people do not get pleasure out of doing bad things. Furthermore, there are consequences to "indulging in the most evil and wicked of behavior/actions" here on Earth.

Answer 6

"If there is no God, no life after death and therefore no fear of being held responsible for what we do here on earth, what purpose does morality have?"

That's a really sad, uncaring attitiude you've got there.

When you write things like this, it should be utterly obvious why atheists don't think much of believers' morals. Atheists believe that wrong is wrong, even if you don't get caught. Your "if you get away with it, it isn't wrong" morality isn't exactly my idea of a strong moral stance.

Answer 7

Know one that I know, knows the answer to this for sure.
It is possible, it is all an illusion:
(At times our dreams are more real than life?)
Because it is realized with our thoughts that does not take up space and have matter, this is beyond the realm of physics for man to know for sure. There is no exact science of the Intangible world! There are no tangible reference points!
We do not even understand the physical world yet.
Theories only of gravity, electricity, magnetism, light, etc!
Everyone is free to speculate!

Answer 8

hey math man, just out of curiosity do you think that your mathematicians would subscribe to such binary thinking? to say that two mathematicians believe that natural selection is "statistically impossible" means that there must be a god...what a weak and vacant argument. one that even two of the most deluded mathematicians could not agree to lest there agenda be discovered.
science does not say it has all of the answers, more that it continues the pursuit of them.

funny as well that two scientists on the side of one argument have the weight of thousands on the other side

Answer 9

How can right and wrong exist even if God does exist. The only purpose I can see for God is scaring people into being good.

Answer 10

I think the ten commandments are clear. We must strive for justice, that everyone be treated justly. Beyond the law of justice we must pursue love. Love goes beyond simple justice. You can not legislate love, but without it we are nothing. We must love ourselves and our neighbor.