why do you need to believe in a supernatural being to be just be decent?

Question

with all the selective editing that went into the torah and the bible not to mention the inconsistancies in both why can't we just be good stay out of each other's business? i can't get all this insanity over what a 'god' says to do.

Answer 1

Of course, belief in a deity or supernatural being isn't a prerequisite for decency. I'm a theist, but I know plenty of people who aren't. My atheist friends lead upright and ethical lives. Religion and morality are two separate matters, as far as I'm concerned.

Answer 2

It's just another way of enforcing social values, which every human culture does. Saying that God said to do something makes the rule more neutral, I guess, and takes the moral onus off the people enforcing that rule.

It's part of human nature that we have an innate desire to do the right thing (yes, we do) but that we need to be able to model our behavior on others. This is why small children imitate their parents so much and try to do everything the parents do. Organized religion is a way of codifying "what we do" versus "what we do not do." There are other ways of passing on values, such as oral tradition and living the example, which we often see in indigenous cultures.

But each of us trying to live as an island doesn't really benefit anyone. We need the give-and-take of cultural feedback to judge our behavior, whether that feedback comes from religion, "common sense," secular law, or something else. The religionists are right about that much, only they insist that moral accountability ends with religion, which is not correct.

Answer 3

Some people have been so thoroughly indoctrinated that they believe whatever they're told, regardless of the evidence.

* * *
Why Christians Must Steal From Secular Morality:
http://www.caseagainstfaith.com/submissions/steal_morality.htm
[Excerpt]

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.

* * *

Origins 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

Ethics Without Gods:
http://www.atheists.org/Atheism/ethics.html

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

Evolution of Altruism:
http://endeavor.med.nyu.edu/~strone01/altruism.html

If It Feels Good to Be Good, It Might Be Only Natural:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/27/AR2007052701056.html?nav=rss_print/asection

The Subtle, Lethal Poison of Religion:
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2007/09/hitchens_1.html

How Can an Atheist Be Moral?
For Goodness Sake
http://www.ffrf.org/about/bybarker/goodness.php

Answer 4

You don't have to belong to organized religion to believe in the supernatural. I think each person already contains their own capacity to ehxibit the traits of their beliefs. The negative ones only come out now because they have an excuse. If the supernatural exists, it is the natural.

People each their own capacity to hate, or be bigoted, religion just makes them feel validated that God agrees with them. If this weren't true, you could say it about ALL believers.

Answer 5

In theory, one could be "decent" and not believe in a supernatural being. However, in reality as proven by history and cultural anthropology humanity has consistenly sought a force greater than themselves. There are many reasons behind that.

By the way, having a belief in a Supreme being is no more insane than having no belief. To each their own.

Answer 6

Would You swallow the whole horse? Or settle for a mile or two each day until wisdom is reached? You seem to have a saddlebag of wisdom already. Questioning is good.

Answer 7

You don't need to believe in a supernatural being. What you do have to be is a person which a good heart or a smart brain which realizes what goes around comes around.

Answer 8

Because you are trying to take all the credit for yourself. It's like wanting to be God. Actually, we were made to be like God, but there is a right way and a wrong way. Independence and freedom are good goals, but they cannot be attained by trying to be better than God Himself.

Answer 9

Why do you spend so much time worrying about what others believe? Can't you just live with your own beliefs and be done with it?

Answer 10

you don't. what Christians and Jews say is that there has to exist a supernatural being for us to be decent, not that you in particular have to believe that He exists.