Are Atheists More Immoral than Non-Atheists?

[ranjana]

so hilarious to me, that god-fearing people are more moral than atheists! The whole christian premise that god made the earth and gave it to man to use for his purposes is one of the very roots of immoratily of humankind, i believe.

i also cant get over the fact that the notion of a god who judges you, then rewards or punishes you for eternity, sounds an awful lot like being stuck in elementary school for eternity. That's Stage 1 morality right there.

 

[whereismynotecard]

Morals are all just made up by different groups of people, so it doesn't matter. According to Eddy, I'm probably very immoral. But according to myself, there are no morals, so I don't care. I just try to not be too mean to people because I know I wouldn't like it if someone was mean to me. And I follow the laws for the most part, even though a lot of them are stupid and unfair. I follow them because I don't want to have to pay fines or go to jail. Not because I want to be a good person, but because I don't want to be punished by people who get to decide if I'm right or wrong.

 

[McBell]

Must Journey be blamed for everything?

OMG!

:help:
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Such blasphemy!!

To even jokingly mistake Journey for that nutjob......:slap:

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[Ozzie]

The following exchange happened in another thread:





Do you think Eddy is right to imply atheists are generally less moral than non-atheists?

Cultural norms would dictate the answer. All depends where the subject is situated.

 

[Smoke]

Do you think Eddy is right to imply atheists are generally less moral than non-atheists?

I think morality is generally harder for believers in the Abrahamic religions, because they not only have the same moral failures as everyone else, but also the additional immorality that their religious authorities teach as virtue, plus the moral failure of rationalizing that immorality.

 

[ChristineES]

Just finding a faith doesn't necessarily someone more or less moral. But along those same lines, not having a faith doesn't make someone more or less moral, either.

 

[Jeremiah]

The following exchange happened in another thread:





Do you think Eddy is right to imply atheists are generally less moral than non-atheists?

"Originally Posted by Eddy Daze
I know , (only too well), but i see it like this analogy , I sometimes break the law but I know the law is there I accept that, whereas an atheist is claiming ignorance of the laws and spreading the word that no police force exists, but we will both be punished for committing the crime, and I think I have the better chance of stopping my sins in future, and I will not be converting people to sinners."

Eddy is just stereotyping people. Here "claiming ignorance", here "spreading the word that no police force exists", here "I have the better chance of stopping my sins" and here "I will not be converting people to sinners".

Eddy doesn't have an actual argument, just assumptions, about people he's never seen, based off his notions of word.

EDIT* Also Eddy is not talking about true morality. Laws are meant for bad people, not good people; good people have morals, they don't need laws.

 

[ChristineES]

so hilarious to me, that god-fearing people are more moral than atheists! The whole Christian premise that god made the earth and gave it to man to use for his purposes is one of the very roots of immorality of humankind, i believe.

i also cant get over the fact that the notion of a god who judges you, then rewards or punishes you for eternity, sounds an awful lot like being stuck in elementary school for eternity. That's Stage 1 morality right there.

Christians are not the only faith or religion that believes in God. There are many, many others.

 

[McBell]

... they don't need laws.

I disagree.
Laws are more for "bad" people, I agree.
But even "bad" people have morals.
Perhaps you disagree with their morals, but they have morals none the less.
Seems to me that laws are merely assigned punishments for actions that go against a specific set of morals.

 

[Copernicus]

I disagree.
Laws are more for "bad" people, I agree.
But even "bad" people have morals.
Perhaps you disagree with their morals, but they have morals none the less.
Seems to me that laws are merely assigned punishments for actions that go against a specific set of morals.

Mestemia makes a very good point here. There is such a thing as "honor among thieves". We are all social beings, and morality represents the set of behavioral guidelines implicitly and explicitly established by the group. Crime families have their own code of conduct, which is designed to strengthen their association to the detriment of society at large. Rules of conduct don't have to come from a god, but gods are treated as the highest level of social organization by those who believe in them. So it is natural to think of gods as assigning and enforcing the morality that society imposes on its members. It is no accident that the mafia has its "godfather".

 

[Jeremiah]

I disagree.
Laws are more for "bad" people, I agree.
But even "bad" people have morals.
Perhaps you disagree with their morals, but they have morals none the less.
Seems to me that laws are merely assigned punishments for actions that go against a specific set of morals.

Moral relativism is a half baked theory, and I mean that literally; moral relativism is only half the story. Laws are a deterrent to guide the senseless waves. Morals become universal via the structure of our being; laws derived outside the universal is jabberwocky. Even being derived, at the base, from the universal some are still very uncouth. No one person is perfectly moral, it can become very confusing and missteps are expected. But no person can be credit with moral sense without understanding; whether that is good or bad credit.

That’s brief and crude I understand, but I only get so much time after work before it's bed then work again.

 

[McBell]

Moral relativism is a half baked theory, and I mean that literally; moral relativism is only half the story. Laws are a deterrent to guide the senseless waves. Morals become universal via the structure of our being; laws derived outside the universal is jabberwocky. Even being derived, at the base, from the universal some are still very uncouth. No one person is perfectly moral, it can become very confusing and missteps are expected. But no person can be credit with morals sense without understanding; whether that is good or bad credit.

That’s brief and crude I understand, but I only get so much time after work before it's bed then work again.

I'm sorry, but that does not make any sense to me as written.
I get the impression that much was left out....

 

[Jeremiah]

I'm sorry, but that does not make any sense to me as written.
I get the impression that much was left out....

Sorry, Mestemia, I understand but I don't want to use all my free time expounding details, so I gave a rough outline.

 

[McBell]

Sorry, Mestemia, I understand but I don't want to use all my free time expounding details, so I gave a rough outline.

Hopefully you can get back soon with the missing details.

 

[Heneni]

It depends who's kingdom you belong to. If you belong to the kingdom of god, then you are a citizen of heaven, and a traveller through on this earth. Therefore your code of conduct comes from the king and not from earthly rulers or regulations. The code of conduct is inscribed in your being.

Anybody that lives on this planet (this kingdom) are subject to the law of the goverment. If any of those laws, contradict the laws of the kingdom of god, a child of god has to submit to the authority (on this earth) in the sense that they humbly submit to the punishment incured for not obeying that law.

It would be immoral for a christian to engage in any activity that would contradict the law of christ, which is the law of love.

Since an atheist does not belong to the kingdom of god, their code of conduct is prescribed by the human law. If they dont obey the law, then they are in breech of the law, which can be different from one country to the next.

But a christian, has but one country, a heavenly country and so they cannot be charged and found guilty by a human tribunal. Though they are. The jurisdiction of a christian does not lie within the confounds of this planet. God is their judge and king.

The bible says that this earth is destined for destruction, and the only other kingdom to go to would be the kingdom of god. In order to gain entry, one would have to be judged by the heavenly tribunal, and judged by the heavenly law. The heavenly law is the law of christ. So christians would not have disobeyed this law while on earth, and therefore would gain entry into the kingdom. The others, would have obeyed the laws of the land, which is destroyed ultimately.


Heneni

 

[Alceste]

It would be immoral for a christian to engage in any activity that would contradict the law of christ, which is the law of love.

Since an atheist does not belong to the kingdom of god, their code of conduct is prescribed by the human law.

Actually the code of conduct for atheists is prescribed by our conscience. Don't Christians have these?

The heavenly law is the law of christ. So christians would not have disobeyed this law while on earth, and therefore would gain entry into the kingdom. The others, would have obeyed the laws of the land, which is destroyed ultimately.


Heneni

I think I would greatly prefer my own destruction to eternity in the company of nothing but Christians, no contest.

 

[McBell]

I think I would greatly prefer my own destruction to eternity in the company of nothing but Christians, no contest.

Amen!!

 

[dawny0826]

Do you think Eddy is right to imply atheists are generally less moral than non-atheists?

Based upon which definition of morality?

I'm inclined to believe that we're each capable of moral and immoral behavior.

 

[Father Heathen]

The funny thing about it is that most atheists do have a morality, and it's based upon logic and reason, cause and effect, action and reaction, and upon our innate empathy and compassion, which makes it far more solid than morality that is based upon unsubstantiated superstitions and mythology. History has shown us that believing in a god has very little to do with how people conduct themselves, unless it's used as an excuse to commit some form of injustice.

"If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed. The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge." - Einstein

 

[McBell]

Based upon which definition of morality?

How many definitions of "morality" are there?
What are these differing definitions of "morality"?


Or do you perhaps mean that there are different morality sets?