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Absence of good in atheism

Evangelicalhumanist

"Truth" isn't a thing...
Premium Member
Right. There are good and bad theists. There are good and bad atheists. What we observe is that religion won't make bad people good. But it can make bad people very bad.
Religion can, indeed, make some basically good people do very bad things.
I am curious where you get these ideas about atheists. Do you really think atheists aren’t concerned with things like what truth is, or what lies are?
Or what's right or wrong, for that matter?
 

Nakosis

Non-Binary Physicalist
Premium Member
It's My Birthday!
Good Vs. Evil,
Truth Vs. Lie,
are religious terms.
Thus, an atheist has become free from these old traditional ways of thinking.

Atheist: "there are very Good atheists."

So, now we all agree, that there is Absolute Evil and Absolute Good in this world?

Atheist: "No, we don't."

So, there is no good in atheism.

Atheist: "Maybe try not to equivocate words like good and Absolute Good and try to have an honest dialogue."

I have the God given right to say anything if there are none of the absolutes. But there are absolutes. So, I stay by the "there is no good in atheism."

Ok, I agree, there is no good in atheism and I can also say there is no evil in atheism. So now what?
Do you agree? There is no evil in atheism?
 

blü 2

Veteran Member
Premium Member
Good Vs. Evil,
Truth Vs. Lie,
are religious terms.
But by no means exclusive to religion.
Thus, an atheist has become free from these old traditional ways of thinking.
But not necessarily about good and bad.
Atheist: "there are very Good atheists."
Of course there are. Many millions of them.
I have the God given right to say anything if there are none of the absolutes. But there are absolutes. So, I stay by the "there is no good in atheism."
State a moral absolute. I've never seen one, so I'm looking forward to your reply.
 

Nimos

Well-Known Member
I have the God given right to say anything if there are none of the absolutes. But there are absolutes. So, I stay by the "there is no good in atheism."
Wait... didn't Jesus say:

Mark 10:18
18 - And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.


So guess there is no good in religion either or is religion equal to God in this case? :)
 

stvdv

Veteran Member
Terrible analogy. The belief in God over the millennia has lead to immense evil and violence,
You missed the point. It is not an anology. I just use the definition of Atheism 'lack of belief in God'

There is not (yet) an Atheist Scripture expanding beyond that 1 criterium how Atheism is defined

I know that Atheists are particular about this, hence I used their definition.

So, Atheism is not just 'absence of good' but it's absence of everything except 'lack of belief in God'

So, the OP claim is correct 'there is absence of good in Atheism'. Compare it to binary system, there is absence of 2,3,4,5 etc. Just how it's defined, your mind created something that is not there
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
Nah, im talking life outside RF, no RFer has tried to blow me up, kill my kids or rape me, always been real live Christians for some reason.
Sigh. There's a pandemic of hate and no one has developed a vaccine that really works for all so far.
 

firedragon

Veteran Member
Look into the Residential Schools for natives in Canada and the United States, run by Christian churches.

Look into Muslims who murder their fellows for apostasy, or their daughters for "disgracing" them.

What made good people murder in Stalins Russia, Mao's china, and the British empire? Think about it?
 

Justanatheist

Well-Known Member
Good Vs. Evil,
Truth Vs. Lie,
are religious terms.
Thus, an atheist has become free from these old traditional ways of thinking.

Atheist: "there are very Good atheists."

So, now we all agree, that there is Absolute Evil and Absolute Good in this world?

Atheist: "No, we don't."

So, there is no good in atheism.

Atheist: "Maybe try not to equivocate words like good and Absolute Good and try to have an honest dialogue."

I have the God given right to say anything if there are none of the absolutes. But there are absolutes. So, I stay by the "there is no good in atheism."
You are absolutely right, most of us atheists are covered in hair, eat people and have big pointy teeth or is that a werewolf I always get confused between the two
 

Magical Wand

Active Member
Good Vs. Evil,
Truth Vs. Lie,
are religious terms.
Thus, an atheist has become free from these old traditional ways of thinking.

Atheist: "there are very Good atheists."

So, now we all agree, that there is Absolute Evil and Absolute Good in this world?

Atheist: "No, we don't."

So, there is no good in atheism.

Atheist: "Maybe try not to equivocate words like good and Absolute Good and try to have an honest dialogue."

I have the God given right to say anything if there are none of the absolutes. But there are absolutes. So, I stay by the "there is no good in atheism."

One possible way to interpret the claim that there are "good" atheists is simply that the behavior of some atheists is in accordance with what the culture judges to be good. So, it could be extended as "There are very good atheists, as is defined by people."

Similarly, depending on the context of the discussion (say, whether atheists should go to hell or not), one may be saying, "There are good atheists, namely, those atheists whose behavior is in accordance with the basic Biblical laws -- e.g., thou shall not murder, lie and commit adultery. So, they don't deserve to go to hell." :)

In either case the atheist doesn't have to admit morality is objective (i.e., that it exists outside of human minds) or absolute (viz., true always and everywhere).
 

Evangelicalhumanist

"Truth" isn't a thing...
Premium Member
What made good people murder in Stalins Russia, Mao's china, and the British empire? Think about it?
What made Pope Pius IX kidnap a Jewish boy, Edgardo Mortara, and keep him permanently from his family? What made Christian priests and nuns, under the guidance of Christian governments, take tens of thousands of children from their parents, never to let them see them again -- and when they died, bury them in unmarked graves and not even bother notifying their parents? These were religious people acting for religious motives, and purely religious motives.

Stalin and Mao were not acting out of religious piety -- they had none. They were acting on ideologies. And I don't disagree that ideologies that demand the willing acceptance and compliance of everyone are just as dangerous, when taken to extremes, as religions, also when taken to extremes.
 

Meow Mix

Chatte Féministe
Why would they be? Truth becomes relative and so do lies if we are a law unto ourselves.

What is this assumption about being “a law unto ourselves,” exactly? Do you think atheists don’t use self-evident and incorrigible logic the same as theists, that we just make up any rules we want to?
 

shunyadragon

shunyadragon
Premium Member
You missed the point. It is not an anology. I just use the definition of Atheism 'lack of belief in God'

There is not (yet) an Atheist Scripture expanding beyond that 1 criterium how Atheism is defined

I know that Atheists are particular about this, hence I used their definition.

So, Atheism is not just 'absence of good' but it's absence of everything except 'lack of belief in God'

So, the OP claim is correct 'there is absence of good in Atheism'. Compare it to binary system, there is absence of 2,3,4,5 etc. Just how it's defined, your mind created something that is not there

You do not need scripture to be good. In fact many with scripture and believe in God(s) do a lot of bad things. In fact, humans lacked scripture for hundreds of thousands of years and the objective evidence shows they were both good and bad.

The definition of atheism says nothing good nor bad (evil). simply the belief that God(s) do not exist.

No, I did not miss the point. Atheism cannot be defined as 'a lack of good' just as belief in God(s) necessarily be defined as good. That is the result of self serving circular reasoning of egocentric Theism.
 
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stvdv

Veteran Member
You do not need scripture to be good.
I never said you need Scripture to be good:). The opposite even, all my replies end implying you can do without Scripture;)

In fact many with scripture and believe in God(s) do a lot of bad things
Many times I said this too on RF

In fact, humans lacked scripture for hundreds of thousands of years and the objective evidence shows they were both good and bad
Yes, I know

The definition of atheism says nothing good nor bad (evil). simply the belief that God(s) do not exist.
Exactly, hence my reply to you

No, I did not miss the point.
Then why reply the way you replied? My answer was clear and simple

Atheism cannot be defined as 'a lack of good' just as belief in God(s) necessarily be defined as good
Again, this is exactly what my lines under every single post of mine implies

That is the result of self serving circular reasoning of egocentric Theism.
I don't do self serving circular reasoning, I just tried to understand why @questfortruth created the OP in this way, and after a while I saw that what he said was correct "absence of good in atheism", because atheism ONLY means "lack of belief in God"
 
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