Where Do Atheists Get Their Morality From? - Religion

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Where Do Atheists Get Their Morality From? by Zikdik(m): 11:35am On Dec 28, 2013

Many religious believers seem to
think that they can stump any
atheist by demanding to know
where morality comes from. If
God doesn’t exist, who is the
divine law giver? This question
actually answers itself. If there is
no God, then there isn’t a divine
law giver. This leaves many
religious believers scratching
their heads wondering where
atheists get our morals from.
Of course, I contend that atheists
get our morals from the same
place religious believers get their
morals from (most of the time). I
know this might come as a shock
to some religious believers, but
you don’t get your morals from
God or the Bible.
Unfortunately, it turns out that
many atheists don’t know where
our morals come from either and
so I thought I would do my best
to explain where we are in moral
philosophy today in this quick
summery. However, the field of
ethics is rather large and usually
has a full bookshelf or more
devoted to it in most libraries
and bookstores so I encourage
people to go and read some of
the books on those shelves to
get a better understanding of
moral philosophy. There are
plenty of introduction to ethics
books there too. This is just a
short answer to the question.
One of humanities evolutionary
adaptations which have helped
us to survive and thrive is our
ability to work together in
groups. It is unlikely that you
would be able to find a person
who is completely self-sufficient.
Everything we have in our
society, we have because we are
able to work together. Because
humans are complex creatures,
we need rules to help us deal
with the complexities of
cooperative living. This is the
beginning of morality.
The social contract is a tacit
agreement between everyone in
the community to help us work
together. While this social
contract is great at first glance, it
is not sufficient. What happens
when those who make the social
contract do so to favor their own
interests rather than the
interests of those with less
power?
Enter the concepts of fairness
and justice. These concepts arise
out of our sense of empathy and
compassion. We have evolved to
the point where we can imagine
what it is like to be in someone
else’s situation. We wouldn’t
want to be treated unfairly
ourselves, so when someone else
is being treated unfairly, we
generally feel compassion
toward them.
We know from past experience
and from reasonable
suppositions that certain actions,
attitudes, and/or rules are not
helpful in advancing the
wellbeing of both individuals and
for society as a whole. When
rules are unfair, the people who
are treated unfairly tend to feel
resentment and that resentment
isn’t helpful to society as a whole.
It goes without saying that it
isn’t helpful for the individuals
either.
It is important to note that
morality doesn’t exist in a
vacuum. If there were no
sentient creature (or only one)
then there would be no need for
morality. While to some extent it
can be argued morality is a
human construct, it would not be
accurate to claim that morality is
made-up out of whole cloth at
our relativistic whim.
Morality is simply our
understanding of cause and
effect coupled with our desire
for the wellbeing of society and
individuals in society. Those
desires are born out of our sense
of empathy and compassion for
others. No deities involved.

Re: Where Do Atheists Get Their Morality From? by Nobody: 11:39am On Dec 28, 2013

Too long, didnt read

Guy, try and edit your post to be readable na?

Re: Where Do Atheists Get Their Morality From? by Zikdik(m): 11:54am On Dec 28, 2013

Logicboy03: Too long, didnt read

Guy, try and edit your post to be readable na?

Owkae Brother. I'ld try to make the next one a lot shorter and more concise.

Re: Where Do Atheists Get Their Morality From? by Ogbologbo: 8:09pm On Dec 28, 2013

Please sir, your morality seems to be limited to social behavior. What about such moral imperatives like 'work hard'. It is better to work hard than to be lazy.

It is better to keep fit than to be fat and unhealthy.

Or then again what about moral imperatives that are anti-social. Eg. Be smart and cheat, rather than stupid and be cheated. This one is common here in nigeria. If you get into office and you don't steal people will laugh at you. You had your chance and you were too stupid to take advantage. Your townspeople will even end up despising you.

Re: Where Do Atheists Get Their Morality From? by Nobody: 8:44pm On Dec 28, 2013

There's no objective morality. So why would anyone expect atheists to form a general view of morality?

Morality differs from society to society. Everyone(atheist, christian, muslim) derives their sense of morality from the laws and general conduct of people in his environment. For the Christian, these laws may be superseded by the Holy Book(his own interpretation of course). The Muslims prefer Sharia law where ever they are a majority.

Whether false or true, these religions give a structure to fall on in times of moral dilemma for the believers. What moral basis does the atheist have?

It is important to note that the direct opposite of atheism is theism, not religion, be it Christianity, Islam or Pagan. A theist may decide to advance any of the religious gods and their moral booklet if he so wishes.

In most cases, the atheist advances humanism, which is simply behaving decently without expectation of rewards or punishment after you are
dead.

1 Like

Re: Where Do Atheists Get Their Morality From? by Zikdik(m): 8:51pm On Dec 28, 2013

Ogbologbo: Please sir, your morality seems to be limited to social behavior. What about such moral imperatives like 'work hard'. It is better to work hard than to be lazy.

It is better to keep fit than to be fat and unhealthy.

Or then again what about moral imperatives that are anti-social. Eg. Be smart and cheat, rather than stupid and be cheated. This one is common here in nigeria. If you get into office and you don't steal people will laugh at you. You had your chance and you were too stupid to take advantage. Your townspeople will even end up despising you.

Sir. Your first issue in respect to morality is "nol prosequi". Hard work and laziness are relative.
Also, cheating as a way of being smart does not conform with social standards. It is criminal. Whether the society accepts it or not does not make it any more or less so.

Re: Where Do Atheists Get Their Morality From? by Zikdik(m): 8:54pm On Dec 28, 2013

aManFromMars: There's no objective morality. So why would anyone expect atheists to form a general view of morality?

Morality differs from society to society. Anyone(atheist, christian, muslim) bases their morality based on the laws and general conduct of people in his environment. For the Christian, these laws may be superseded by the Holy Book(his own interpretation of course). The Muslims prefer Sharia law where ever they are a majority.

Whether false or true, these religions give a structure to fall on in times of moral dilemma for the believers. What moral basis does the atheist have?

It is important to note that the direct opposite of atheism is theism, not religion, be it Christianity, Islam or Pagan. A theist may decide to advance any of the religious gods and their moral booklet if he so wishes.

In most cases, the atheist advances humanism, which is simply behaving decently without expectation of rewards or punishment after you are
dead.

Apt intelligence. You just summarized the whole article.

Re: Where Do Atheists Get Their Morality From? by Ajibam: 8:56pm On Dec 28, 2013

maybe from their physics textbook..

Re: Where Do Atheists Get Their Morality From? by Ogbologbo: 8:51am On Dec 29, 2013

Zikdik:
Sir. Your first issue in respect to morality is "nol prosequi". Hard work and laziness are relative.
Also, cheating as a way of being smart does not conform with social standards. It is criminal. Whether the society accepts it or not does not make it any more or less so.

Please sir I do not know the meaning of 'nol prosequi'. But in my understanding Good and Evil are relative too.

Cheating is very much cool in the social standard of Nigeria. People even go to church and thanks God for the opportunity to steal. Maybe it is criminal according to some dry stupid colonial law from the past that is still vestigial but it is still cool in our social standard. Don't confuse legal issue of criminality with morality. Law can be considered immoral by some people. It was criminal to harbour jewish people during Nazi Germany but those that did so did it because they felt it was morally right.

What about the Hermit man that left society and is living in the bush. Does he have no morality? Does he have a sense of right and wrong? Does he have values?

What about other social animals? Does they have a morality? wolves hunting in the forest? apes in the bush? Schools of fishes?

Re: Where Do Atheists Get Their Morality From? by Gombs(m): 9:08am On Dec 29, 2013

Logicboy03: Too long, didnt read

Guy, try and edit your post to be readable na?

Ummmm....If twas a thread that says "God is a cruel figment of man's imagination" and the essay is 3 times longer than this, u would read through and start ur usual spewing of verbal excreta grin

Re: Where Do Atheists Get Their Morality From? by Gombs(m): 9:12am On Dec 29, 2013

aManFromMars: There's no objective morality. So why would anyone expect atheists to form a general view of morality?

Morality differs from society to society. Everyone(atheist, christian, muslim) derives their sense of morality from the laws and general conduct of people in his environment. For the Christian, these laws may be superseded by the Holy Book(his own interpretation of course). The Muslims prefer Sharia law where ever they are a majority.

Whether false or true, these religions give a structure to fall on in times of moral dilemma for the believers. What moral basis does the atheist have?

It is important to note that the direct opposite of atheism is theism, not religion, be it Christianity, Islam or Pagan. A theist may decide to advance any of the religious gods and their moral booklet if he so wishes.

In most cases, the atheist advances humanism, which is simply behaving decently without expectation of rewards or punishment after you are
dead.

What is this one saying sef...

Re: Where Do Atheists Get Their Morality From? by Nobody: 9:32am On Dec 29, 2013

Gombs:

What is this one saying sef...

Merry Xmas to you. I asked Santa to give you a new brain for Christmas. I guess he didn't deliver. embarassed

2 Likes

Re: Where Do Atheists Get Their Morality From? by Gombs(m): 9:37am On Dec 29, 2013

aManFromMars:
Merry Xmas to you. I asked Santa to give you a new brain for Christmas. I guess he didn't deliver.

Re: Where Do Atheists Get Their Morality From? by Nobody: 9:50am On Dec 29, 2013

aManFromMars: There's no objective morality. So why would anyone expect atheists to form a general view of morality?

Morality differs from society to society. Everyone(atheist, christian, muslim) derives their sense of morality from the laws and general conduct of people in his environment. For the Christian, these laws may be superseded by the Holy Book(his own interpretation of course). The Muslims prefer Sharia law where ever they are a majority.

Whether false or true, these religions give a structure to fall on in times of moral dilemma for the believers. What moral basis does the atheist have?

It is important to note that the direct opposite of atheism is theism, not religion, be it Christianity, Islam or Pagan. A theist may decide to advance any of the religious gods and their moral booklet if he so wishes.

In most cases, the atheist advances humanism, which is simply behaving decently without expectation of rewards or punishment after you are
dead.

The bold is false.......everything else is correct

Re: Where Do Atheists Get Their Morality From? by Gombs(m): 10:17am On Dec 29, 2013

Re: Where Do Atheists Get Their Morality From? by Chrisbenogor(m): 10:19am On Dec 29, 2013

~~Copy and paste~~ money is the root of all evil. grin

Re: Where Do Atheists Get Their Morality From? by Ranchhoddas: 11:13am On Dec 29, 2013

Gombs:

What is this one saying sef...

u are a dull boy,stop listening to pastor chris and start reading ur books.

1 Like

Re: Where Do Atheists Get Their Morality From? by Redlyn: 12:05pm On Dec 29, 2013

Its not that it is LONG but badly edited. Why one longnarrow paragraph. OP cant you edit it for legibility even if content is unchanged.

Re: Where Do Atheists Get Their Morality From? by Delafruita(m): 1:07pm On Dec 29, 2013

Zikdik:
Sir. Your first issue in respect to morality is "nol prosequi". Hard work and laziness are relative.
Also, cheating as a way of being smart does not conform with social standards. It is criminal. Whether the society accepts it or not does not make it any more or less so.

morality and criminality are totally different.an act might be morally wrong but not a criminal act while an act might be morally right but against the law.you wiLl also have to acknowledge the fact that morality isn't a constant.what constitutes morality differs from society to society or from religion to religion.

@topic...atheists derive their morality from the source.morality isn't about right and/or wrong,its more about peaceable existence,successful relationships coupled with the acknowledgement of the circle of life or in local parlance...karma.not fear of it,but rather using it as a guide

1 Like

Re: Where Do Atheists Get Their Morality From? by Gombs(m): 1:09pm On Dec 29, 2013

Ranchhoddas: u are a dull boy,stop listening to pastor chris and start reading ur books.

Re: Where Do Atheists Get Their Morality From? by Nobody: 1:44pm On Dec 29, 2013

Logicboy03:

The bold is false.......everything else is correct

Point out what's false.

Re: Where Do Atheists Get Their Morality From? by Nobody: 2:05pm On Dec 29, 2013

aManFromMars:

Point out what's false.

The humanism part. Humanism has a slightly different definition from what you put up there.

Furthermore, it is a very huge assumption to say that atheists in most cases advance humanism

Re: Where Do Atheists Get Their Morality From? by Nobody: 3:03pm On Dec 29, 2013

What's your definition of humanism?

Re: Where Do Atheists Get Their Morality From? by Nobody: 4:35pm On Dec 29, 2013

aManFromMars: What's your definition of humanism?

Definition of Humanism;
Dont be a Judas cheesy

Re: Where Do Atheists Get Their Morality From? by Nobody: 4:44pm On Dec 29, 2013

Logicboy03:

Definition of Humanism;
Dont be a Judas

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