Many none believers says, "You dont need to have a religion to be a good person/to have morality...?

Question

...so assuming some none believers are bad people or evil doers, do they need religion to do good or have morality then?

Taken out of contexts...*blows hair*

Maybe you should just answer the question and then ask your own questions later...I do want an honest answer...

I read about true stories of people who were tortured by communist/atheist because they were Christians, however I wasn't making that point...and there's a lot of Christian outreaches to people in need specially in remote areas of the world...wasn't making that point too...

HeathenDaughter...ummm, uhhhh, gezz...where does that came from...*drama hall to the left next to the esc button*

Jails are filled with Christians? Hmmm, there must be misunderstandings here...either they were godless people who does bad things and then goes to jail then got saved there or...that's just some sort of big big assumptions...how'd they get there...that's interesting to know...

Answer 1

No one needs religion period but we all need God. No matter how good a person may think they are or claim to be, the only good that is acceptable to God is the good that He produces within a person. Why? Because God is the only one who is good and none of us can match Him. So in order for us to do the good that is acceptable in His sight it must come from Him.

Answer 2

Non-believers usually attribute their moral behavior to one of four ideas:
1) The way they were trained by society/parents.
2) Their conscience
3) Something called "common sense"
4) Evolution

Conscience and "common sense" are probably the same thing. Conscience is the set of feelings by which their society training is communicated to them. Society doesn't impart morality to us, it exercises control over us. Whatever that trained behavior is, we call it right and good. Going with the flow seems so natural and right so we like to think of it as being good.

Evolution is survival of the fittest and it is the "selfish gene". I don't see how evolution could possibly be a source of morality but it a source of self deception because the selfish gene is also the deceptive gene.

Non-believers also make their own standards for good/moral and when we make our own standards, we will always set the standard so we fit. I understand that even criminals plotting their next crime think themselves to be basically good. Without a fixed standard, our human nature will allow us to rationalize and justify almost any behavior.

Answer 3

For what you are saying to be true requires that you first believe that the basic nature of Man is evil
Since Man is inherently evil then the only way to make him behave in a positive manner is to either reward him with Heaven or the threaten him with Hell
Atheists don't share that negative view of Man with the Christian community
Atheists think that if you take the loaded gun away most people will still behave themselves in a positive manner .

Answer 4

Hey, the jails are filled with Christians, not atheists. Seems it's the Christians that are the real evil doers. Religion hasn't helped morality.

Answer 5

People either have a moral compass or they don't. Morality comes from the parents.

Religion has nothing to do with it. There are plenty of high-powered so-called Christians with the morals of an alley cat.

Just for starters:

Jim and Tammy Bakker, Jimmy Swaggert, Marvin Gorman, Oral Roberts, Robert Hilton, Paula White.........on and on.

That's doesn't even address the ordinary everyday christees who have the moral compass of a tulip.

Answer 6

I think the word you are looking for is "non-believers," to begin with.

Our morality is based largely upon the notion that we evolved as a social species. Much of what we respond to as "moral" has its roots in neuro-biology, and has been refined by a long history of observing the changing social world.

I'm also prompted to ask whether those people who have religion are more inclined to be "moral" than people without. Do Christians engage in "immoral behaviour," or are they spared any impulse in that direction by having "religion."?

Answer 7

No one needs religion to be a good and moral person. Most religious people really don't know any better, so they would say you need some sort of religious belief to be moral. Ignore them, for they know not what they say.

Answer 8

Geez what more do you people want from me?? I donate to St Jude and the Disabled Vets. I donate all my clothes and toys to battered women's shelters. I stay at home with my kids (who are all taught to respect thier elders and all human being as they don't know anyone else's story so they shouldn't judge) and I help with fundraiser. What I have to be CHRISTIAN for it to mean anything??

edit: Oh sorry I forget to hit the sarcasm button. Not real bright there are you? If you really want to know where morals come from, read up on social conditioning in a psych book. It will clear it all up for you

Answer 9

They don't need religion. Everyone has the ability to do good or evil. It's the choices we make that will determine what kind of people we really are.

Answer 10

You need empathy and a conscience, not religion, to develop a sense of morality. If the only thing making you behave decently is fear of divine retribution, then you're probably a sociopath who never developed empathy and conscience.