Atheist's moral values and worldview (mythology, Christianity, God, Christians)

[sanspeur]

Never let your moral values get in the way of doing the right thing....

[agnostic soldier]

While atheists don't have a set dogma dictating how they should live and act, they generally form their moral codes on the basis of empathy and common sense. This seems to be a much better way to form morality since it isn't just blindly following a list of dogmatic moral prescriptions on the basis of reward and fear.

[Thomas R.]

Originally Posted by sanspeur

Never let your moral values get in the way of doing the right thing....

Isn't that from Asimov's Foundation series?

[Bud235]

Here's an example of "deity's moral absolute"

Leviticus 18:7 (New International Version)


7 " 'Do not dishonor your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; do not have relations with her.

This seems unbelievable -- what was Bible talking about?! "having sex with your mother"?

[Bud235]

Exodus 22:1 (New International Version)

Exodus 22

Protection of Property

1 "If a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it, he must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep.

Here, the Bible appears to be saying: it's okay to steal, as long as one pays back somehow.


It's either incredibly stupid to make such a statement or absolutely immoral.

[sanspeur]

Originally Posted by Thomas R.

Isn't that from Asimov's Foundation series?

By golly you are correct. I had forgotten where I read it...Thanks. I believe it was said by Salvor Hardin, while planning his coup on the leaders of the Encyclopedia Galactica project.

[Thomas R.]

Originally Posted by sanspeur

By golly you are correct. I had forgotten where I read it...Thanks. I believe it was said by Salvor Hardin, while planning his coup on the leaders of the Encyclopedia Galactica project.

You're welcome I guess. I read it as a teen. Most of the science fiction I'd read before it was media-related, it got me into more serious stuff in the genre so it stayed in my mind. Asimov was/is one of my favorite writers. Everything is very clear and rational. I actually do like that for many things.

[Dredre]

Originally Posted by agnostic soldier

While atheists don't have a set dogma dictating how they should live and act, they generally form their moral codes on the basis of empathy and common sense. This seems to be a much better way to form morality since it isn't just blindly following a list of dogmatic moral prescriptions on the basis of reward and fear.

It would be a better way to form morality if it WAS just blindly following a list of dogmatic moral prescriptions on the basis of reward and fear but it isn't.
We have the ten commandments from the Old Testament and a summary of them in the New Testament.

1 through 4 concern God and 5 through 10 concern man. Even if it's hard to see the morality in the commandments concerning God (such as not taking His name in vain) it's much easier to see the morality in not killing, not stealing etc.

But Jesus summarized what this "list of don'ts" really equates to in the New Testament. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" and "Love your neighbor as yourself" That's absolutely all there is to it.

But there's no checklist, no good deed for the day. It isn't I'm going to legalistically work my way into a reward by keeping as many commandments as I can. It's about getting to a point where your love for God makes these things 1st nature to you. You do it and don't even think about it.

Finally I never mean to sound preachy in any of the posts that I make... God this and obey that. I'm sorry if I do sound that way. It's just that there's a lot of confusion concerning a lot of things regarding God and I try to explain it as best as I can.

Please realize that yes the Bible says not to judge but everyone who calls themselves religious is not at the same point in their progression towards where they are trying to get to.

[Dredre]

Also I don't think that the comparison between a atheist or an agnostic's morality to a believer's morality is exactly fair. You would have to take away a believer's religion and God to make that comparison. It's wholly possible that without a God a believer's morality would match that of your own. Some would and some wouldn't. It's wrong to say you're only moral because you're scared of punishment although that is more than likely true for some people.

[KCfromNC]

Originally Posted by Bud235

I don't believe such things exist -- "atheist's moral values and worldview".

There's no one unique set of atheist moral values and worldview. Atheism isn't a religion or belief system, it's just shorthand for someone who doesn't believe in gods. That person can be a communist, anarchist, Buddhist monk, 18th century founder of the United States, or anything else. Attempting to pin down any particular set of morals as THE atheist morals is an exercise in futility.

But individual atheists have morals and world views. They are not inherently more or less valid just because the atheist doesn't pretend that there is a god dictating these things to him.