Comments on: Morality Without God?

By: Matthew Tenney

Matthew Tenney — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 14:05:56 +0000

Society erects restraints against those who would do mischief. Those barriers are threats of punishment as the stick and promises of rewards as the carrot. For those who require those restraints in order to do the right thing, it is simply self-delusion for them to believe that they are living a life of high ideals. The good moral person does the right thing without regard for reward or punishment.

A central Christian idea is that true love is fundamentally different from reward or punishment. Our search for the love of God is our motivation and not fear of hell or reward of heaven. The reward for finding God is God. Heaven is just a place where that happens.

By: freethinker

freethinker — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 11:17:05 +0000

In my opinion Christians do not automatically have morals. Being scared of everlasting torture has nothing to do with morals. Being anxious to please a benevolent deity also does not equate to morals: It means you’re a good dog. Religion belittles the character of Christians who do have morals.

By: Siamang

Siamang — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 07:35:30 +0000

Well, either you’re wrong in your understanding of Nietzsche or he was wrong.

Plenty of reasons for living for high ideals.

Why is positive consequenses not a reason, for example? It seems to be a good reason to me.

What do the words “inductive observation” mean? I’m not well-versed in the kind of jargon shorthand of philosophy students, so help me here.

Why isn’t “things work out better when you’re good” a good reason to do good?

By: David

David — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 17:13:39 +0000

One word: Nietzsche. Every atheist, in order to be intellecutally honest, has to grapple with the thought of Nietzsche, particularly in Beyond Good and Evil. As a committed atheist (though not a “friendly” one!), Nietzsche argued passionately that those who think they can live out humanist ideals while rejecting God are deluding themselves. He has nothing but disdain for Christians, but he had even more disdain for secular humanists. Any atheist may live out great humanist ideals, but I seriously doubt they have good reasons to back them up. The only philosophy a secular humanist has at his or her disposal is pragmatism or consequentialism: things just work out better this way. But that’s not a reason, only an inductive observation.

By: Hemant

Hemant — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 20:16:12 +0000

Laura– I agree. Some people say their label as if it should explain everything about them, but I’ve met very few people who are Christians in name (or what have you) and believe in the exact same things all the time. Same goes for atheists. The label tells us only one bit (albeit an important one) about a person.

Thanks for your comment.

By: Laura

Laura — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 16:32:31 +0000

You can have morals and not be a Christian, Buddist or what have you. Morals are given to you by how your parents raised you and to some degree society (but morals in society as a whole in the U.S. these days has gone downward- different topic).

I digress – your parents taught you right from wrong and as you grew older you learn and decide what choices you make.

Just because you are an Atheiest doesn’t mean you have horns on your head and a pitch-fork in your hand. Is that what most people think? It is a title that identifies your belief system, isn’t it? Kind of like when some one identifies their sexual orientation.

And when it comes right down to it – how important is it for me to know what your belief system is or your sexual orientation or fill in the blank? I don’t form my opinions of a person on these things. Shouldn’t I get to know that person as the person and not these “labels”? That would be judgemental and closed-minded if I did. Would you agree?

By: Devika

Devika — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 11:39:35 +0000

I don’t have a specific story, but something that happens over and over again to me is that Christians often assume I am Christian, too. And not just in that religiocentric kind of way. They really do seem to think that I am Christian in their specific way: Evangelical, Catholic, Presbyterian, etc.

They are shocked to find out that I’m a humanist. I can only guess that the reason why people mistake me for a fellow (insert type of Christian here) is that I typically:

1. Don’t judge them.
2. Support their right to be religious & raise their families that way.
3. Understand their Bible references (because of my interest in literature).
4. Have shown that I live by a strong moral code (which for me, boils down to common decency and proactive kindness).