Atheists and the commandments?

Question

I understand that some of the commandments atheists do not use (the whole God part) but its to my understanding that atheists dont go running around killing people, or stealing, or stealing wives- correct? I would say atleast 6 of the ten are common morals.

A small few, but still some, atheists are so against believers believing in the commandments- well why? If most humans follow atleast half?

Im not sure if any of you can speak for them, but maybe help me to understand?

Answer 1

We are not against people believing in the 10 Commandments. Rather, we would prefer that you let us (and others) make their own judgments about what is right and wrong with or without the commandments as we choose.

Answer 2

(1) Why do you think that atheists (would) get their moral guidelines exclusively from the Christian tradition? Obviously, all the major religions have a respect of life built in them. Moral and ethical standards can come from multiple sources -- exclude yours and you could still make such an claim for your religion if you were ignorant enough.

(My moral standard is mine -- you have to actually listen to it to understand its source. You are simply assuming that since it "sounds like" yours, it is yours)


(2) I am not against Christians or other theists BELIEVING anything. I am against them teaching it to children with public money and infesting my government with their nonsense at the expense of science.

(3) There are some good things in some religions. Atheism does not have a tradition that bars its members from borrowing things from other traditions.

(4) The problem with the 10 Commandments as a single entity, IS the first 4 commandments (non-RC Christian version). Striking them from public display neuters religion, which is exactly what we want.

Neuter away...

Answer 3

The only good ones are don't steal, don't murder, don't lie.

The first four are about god and antithetical to the Freedom of Religion guaranteed in modern countries.

The one about respecting parents is stupid because there are many crappy parents and respect is to be earned. This commandment should be inverted to say adults should not abuse kids. Think about it, do adults hurt kids more, or do kids hurt adults more?

The adultery one is useless because the definition of adultery is so loose. Yes, banging your secretary or the pool boy behind a loving spouse's back is horrible, but what about people who are separated and the divorce is pending and want to start a new relationship?

And the coveting one(s) is just stupid because coveting is semi-involuntary. Not to mention, they are victimless thought crimes.

My beef is believers telling me that we couldn't figure out the big three - murder, stealing, and lying - without the Bible. Every society, even the non-Christian ones, have figured out that murdering, stealing, and lying is bad. We knew this as a species before Moses. And it is stupid to say that US laws are based on the 10 Commandments, because they are not.

Look at China. No Christianity, no 10 Commandments for 4,000+ years and they seem to do OK. I don't care if *you* follow the 10 Commandments, just don't say that I never would have been able to figure out murder was bad without the 10 Commandments or that we should base our laws on all 10 Commandments.

Answer 4

One version of the ten commandments does contain a few of the more common sense societal rules, but also contain the other cult laws about supernatural deities. If you want to put up a sign saying don't kill other people or don't steal, then go ahead and no atheist would protest against that. However, when you want to put your cult rules about supernatural deities up on public land, then of course, people who don't belong to you cult will protest against this. I'm not sure why this concept is difficult to understand. Additionally, most members of the judeochristian cults aren't even aware of what those commandments are, or that there are different versions.

Answer 5

Well, I've never killed anyone... never felt like it, and even if I did, I'm pretty sure the possible punishment would make me reconsider.

Might have done the rest tho... not while running as I recall, well, maybe the stealing bit required some running.

Nothing against the commandments, I just happen not to follow them. You can if you want to :)

Answer 6

I think Atheists hate (sorry not "are") people who let the commandments do the thinking for them. All laws and rules, whether religious or not, cannot be considered absolute.

And some of the commandments are not fair - such as Thou shall not steal - which is fine if you have money to buy food for ur family, but what if you don't... Does this mean all the people who stole food during the great depression are evil and going to hell??

Answer 7

I don't think anyone is against a christian not killing people or stealing their stuff, but what people do have a problem with is the idea that the only reason they don't is because of the mention in the bible. Would you kill and rape and steal if the bible said it was okay to do so?

Morals and ethics and decent behavior is common sense.

Answer 8

Morals existed long before christianity.

* * *
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 9

The commandments are versions of ethical systems that predate Judaism.

Rule based system always end up in contradiction or leaving something unexplained. (1) This point, when applied to ethics, means we will automatically be left with either contradictory ethics, or a lack of understanding of why something is or is not ethical, and thus a problem with application. Generally this will mean negative consequences even when good is intended, as the history of the Abrahamic traditions suggests.

Answer 10

Some Atheists have been so hurt by believers that they attempt to belittle all things religious.

Its as simple as that, Most of us though, know that morality is not at all religious in nature, and is actually created by logic and societal norms.

The fact that Jews 4000 years ago were logical enough to understand that murder and theft were bad things for a community, doesn't lend any credence to the theory that these rules were delivered by God.

If that is your theory, then you must read ALL the rules believed by his followers at the time. Do you accept that women accused of cheating on their husbands should drink tainted water, and if they don't die from infection didn't cheat?

Do you believe that it is moral to kill your family members and neighbors if they don't follow your belief system?

If the answer to both of these questions is no, then you didn't get your morals from God as depicted in the OT.

Answer 11

I think you may be confusing people being against the display of the Ten Commandments on public property with being against the Commandments themself.
BTW, athiests aren't the only ones against displaying them. There are *alot of devoutly religious people who cherish the seperation of church and state.
Yes, most of those commandments are just common sense rules for a functioning society. I see them as a historical and cultural icon, rather than actual laws that are still relevant and to be obeyed today.