What ethical standard does an atheist have to come up to?

Question

How can they be hypocrites, when they have no standards?

Ergo: Adolph Hitler was not a hypocrite, was he?

Answer 1

i never understood how christians can call atheists hypocrites when atheists dont have a "guide book" to live by, as do the christians.

Answer 2

Actually, I believe that Adolph Hitler was a Christian... at least, his mother was. I'm sure Hitler was a hypocrite, as everyone is at one stage or another. Most of us know something that we don't do.

As to what ethical standard an atheist has to come up to... My sister is an atheist. Her ethical standard is to never do any harm to anyone, and to allow everyone freedom to choose (without guilt)... except when they choose to worship God, and then she mocks them.

At first she didn't do that, but she seems to have slipped from her "freedom and respect for everyone" stance.... which seems to be the primary motivation for atheism, IMO.

Integrity - making our actions consistent with our understanding of right and wrong - is something we all need to work on constantly.

Answer 3

You know I have seen this question so many times now it's starting to grow on me. What exactly is it that you want to hear? That I don't love my children or my family. Or that I rob people and businesses instead of going to work 6 days a week. Or perhaps that I gravitate towards all that is "evil" in the world so I can feel fulfilled.You are comparing me to Adolph Hitler. He wasn't an Atheist. Do some research. I will spare you the truth about him.

Answer 4

(Adolph Hitler was not an atheist. I can think of several areas in which he was a hypocrite.)

hyp·o·crite
1 : a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion
2 : a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings

I don't put on false pretenses of religion (obviously) or virtue, and I try not to act in contradiction to my own beliefs. However, it is certainly possible for me to do so, and so an atheist can be a hypocrite. It's my opinion that most people are hypocrites at least sometimes.

Answer 5

Your cousin Hitler was a Christian. He used Christian dogma and the religious, instilled hatred of the Jews to mobilize a population into war.

Unlike Christians we do not need to have religious faith to have great understanding, empathy and knowledge of right and wrong. It is the weak minded that require a crutch of fear to understand and to do what is right and good.

Interesting Christian Hypocracy:

USA 75% Christian -- Prisoners 75% Christian
10% Atheist --- Prisoners 0.2% Atheist

Obviously Atheists have some catching up to do.

Answer 6

You think all ethical standards come from a book? I'm not an atheist, and even I know better than that.

Answer 7

My father is an atheist and he has morals, they're just not given to him by the Bible.

I think it's a terrible thing that many theists conclude atheists have no morals. They DO and < gasp > some of them actually match our own morals. They just don't ascribe any supernatural meaning (a.k.a. "sin") if and when a moral is broken.

Answer 8

"What ethical standard does an atheist have to come up to?"

Often better standards than adhered to by theist, unless you consider killing in the name of god to be ethical.

"How can they be hypocrites, when they have no standards?"
You seem to have inaccurately predicted the answer to your first question.

Answer 9

We live up to our own standards. Everyone has a moral compass....some find it in a fairytale book about god and jesus. These people need someone to tell them what is moral and what is not.

The grownups in our society have wisdom and intellect. We KNOW what's right and wrong without having to read it in a book.

Answer 10

Hitler was not an atheist. He was religious
http://www.humanism.org.uk/site/cms/contentviewarticle.asp?article=2362

Hitler appears to have had a religious faith, and is on record as supporting faith schools: “ "Secular schools can never be tolerated because such a school has no religious instruction and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character and training must be derived from faith."