Atheists.... do you have any morals? If so, how do you define them.

I tend to believe that nobody really has morals that aren't common sense.yellowandmushy

[QUOTE="foxhound_fox"]
Natural selection has and will continue to filter out the bad genes. Those not fit to live will die.dlp21

Except that's not true, the most fit do not live anymore...well they do, but so do all those who would have died a century ago. You see medical advancements have allowed weak people to live which depletes the gene pool.

which isn't a bad thing

Ok well first I feel religion was just a way to get people to follow a set way of living in peace (that worked really well huh) :roll:

2nd I feel that no one has anyright to judge another or feel that they are above them.

3rd I believe in respect to all things including inanimate objects.

4th Death is inevitable so why cry over it.

5th I have a belief in paying it forward (for anyone whose seen that movie it was actually pretty deep and the main person had the same bookbag as me hell i still have it though its all torn up now the best damn bookbag I've ever had. :)

6th Who cares what other think about you if you like the way you look then go for it

7th what goes around comes around

I have alot more but I'm not going to put them all down. And to the people who say atheist have no morals your wrong we just live by our own code you have no right to say what is wrong and what is right. Murder is a necessary because the race needs to be controlled somehow not saying that justifies it.

READ THE THREAD BEFORE YOU POST

I'm not trying to be mean. I just don't understand what Atheists base their morals off of. What defines your moral code? I imagine it varies from person to person, however, I am really interested in what you have to say. Now, for those of you might take my question as being offensive - I'm not trying to be. I'm being 100% serious when asking this question.

This question isn't synonymous with "Are Atheists bad people?". Please take the question for what it is.

Just jumping ahead. In order to properly define your morality, you would also have to define what you believe to be as "morally good" and what is "morally bad" -- or in other words, "morally right" or "morally wrong". As, simply saying "My moral code is to be good", would create a situation where the definition of "good" is subjective.

rimnet00

http://www.creationtheory.org/Morality/AtheistMorality.xhtml

All questions answered.

[QUOTE="dlp21"]

Why is it that we trumpet the Christian morals....the same ones that say to stone the sinners, and those who enable the sinners(side not only 4 of the 10 commandments are actually laws), the Christian morals that say it is right to sell your daughter, and hold them so high. The same Christian morals that fuel the witch hunts, the renqusistion, the crusades, the destruction of knowledge(they burned the library at Alexandria), has fought tooth and nail to prevent science from progressing, and when they fail triumph it as a gift from God.

Why don't we trumpet the morals of other religions, pacifist religions.

crazykin123

Tell me what one of the ten commandments say to do what you've just described. Religion doesn't cause war, people's ignorance does. I find it ironic that you say the Christian morals tell us to stone the sinners, when Jesus himself said "Let the first who has not sinned, cast the first stone".

I don't believe in God, but neither do I blame religion for... well, pretty much anything. Atheists who point to all the atrocities committed by the Catholic Church for example, I would argue this: We are freaking animals. We are brutal animals. If it wasn't religion, we just would have found another reason to be brutal to each other. Still wars, still rape, still pillaging, all of it unaffected, but with different motives. Fighting over land, or skin colour, or oil, or whatever, we don't NEED religion to give us a reason to murder and destroy, we do that just fine on our own as a species.

[QUOTE="yellowandmushy"]I tend to believe that nobody really has morals that aren't common sense.CptJSparrow

I don't have any morals, I wish everyday of my life was like this:

ATHIEST KID: Mom, I'm going to go **** a hooker.
ATHIEST MOM: Okay, son.
ATHIEST KID: Afterwards, I'm going to go smoke pot with my friends, since it's "not addictive."
ATHIEST MOM: Okay, come home soon!

The athiest kid leaves the room. The father comes home from work several minutes later.

ATHIEST DAD: Hey!
ATHIEST MOM: Hi, honey! I'm pregnant again. I guess I'll just get another abortion, since "fetuses don't count as human life."
ATHIEST DAD: Okay, get as many abortions as you want!
ATHIEST MOM: Oh, and don't go in the bedroom.
ATHIEST DAD: Why not?
ATHIEST MOM: There are two gay men ****ing eachother in there.
ATHIEST DAD: Why are they here?
ATHIEST MOM: I wanted to watch them do it for awhile. They just aren't finished yet.
ATHIEST DAD: Okay, that's fine with me!

Suddenly, their neighbor runs into the house.

ATHIEST NEIGHBOR: Come quick, there's a Christian outside!
ATHIEST MOM: We'll be right there!

The athiest couple quickly put on a pair of black robes and hoods. They then exit the house, and run into the street, where a Christian is nailed to a large, wooden X. He is being burned alive. A crowd of athiests stand around him, all wearing black robes and hoods.

RANDOM ATHIEST: Damn you, Christian! We hate you! We claim to be tolerant of all religions. But we really hate your's! That's because we athiests are hypocritical like that! Die, Christian!

6th Who cares what other think about you if you like the way you look then go for itblackldragon

7th what goes around comes around

[QUOTE="Choga"]Are people really entitled to life? Who/what gives them this "right"?foxhound_fox

I don't have any morals, I wish everyday of my life was like this:

ATHIEST KID: Mom, I'm going to go **** a hooker.
ATHIEST MOM: Okay, son.
ATHIEST KID: Afterwards, I'm going to go smoke pot with my friends, since it's "not addictive."
ATHIEST MOM: Okay, come home soon!

The athiest kid leaves the room. The father comes home from work several minutes later.

ATHIEST DAD: Hey!
ATHIEST MOM: Hi, honey! I'm pregnant again. I guess I'll just get another abortion, since "fetuses don't count as human life."
ATHIEST DAD: Okay, get as many abortions as you want!
ATHIEST MOM: Oh, and don't go in the bedroom.
ATHIEST DAD: Why not?
ATHIEST MOM: There are two gay men ****ing eachother in there.
ATHIEST DAD: Why are they here?
ATHIEST MOM: I wanted to watch them do it for awhile. They just aren't finished yet.
ATHIEST DAD: Okay, that's fine with me!

Suddenly, their neighbor runs into the house.

ATHIEST NEIGHBOR: Come quick, there's a Christian outside!
ATHIEST MOM: We'll be right there!

The athiest couple quickly put on a pair of black robes and hoods. They then exit the house, and run into the street, where a Christian is nailed to a large, wooden X. He is being burned alive. A crowd of athiests stand around him, all wearing black robes and hoods.

RANDOM ATHIEST: Damn you, Christian! We hate you! We claim to be tolerant of all religions. But we really hate your's! That's because we athiests are hypocritical like that! Die, Christian!

gasmaskman

[QUOTE="CptJSparrow"][QUOTE="yellowandmushy"]I tend to believe that nobody really has morals that aren't common sense.yellowandmushy

This is how i see it.

To me an atheist beleives he or she was not created by god or some sort of higher intellegence.

This to me means they are the result of Effectively nothing. or they were the result of something but were made without purposeful intent, or meaning.

Because they were made without reason or meaning, there can be no universal good or bad, This Means good and bad is only what they precieve it to be.

Those are my thoughts any way.

Morality is not some kind of thing that derives from religion, I would say religion derives from all aspects of the human condition not the other way around.

So I draw my morality primarily from the doctrines of humanism, but I hold some beliefs about a universal consciousness that is inconsistent with any philosophical or theistic system that I'm aware of.

Well, you could say that about a crickett.wemhim

[QUOTE="gasmaskman"]

I don't have any morals, I wish everyday of my life was like this:

ATHIEST KID: Mom, I'm going to go **** a hooker.
ATHIEST MOM: Okay, son.
ATHIEST KID: Afterwards, I'm going to go smoke pot with my friends, since it's "not addictive."
ATHIEST MOM: Okay, come home soon!

The athiest kid leaves the room. The father comes home from work several minutes later.

ATHIEST DAD: Hey!
ATHIEST MOM: Hi, honey! I'm pregnant again. I guess I'll just get another abortion, since "fetuses don't count as human life."
ATHIEST DAD: Okay, get as many abortions as you want!
ATHIEST MOM: Oh, and don't go in the bedroom.
ATHIEST DAD: Why not?
ATHIEST MOM: There are two gay men ****ing eachother in there.
ATHIEST DAD: Why are they here?
ATHIEST MOM: I wanted to watch them do it for awhile. They just aren't finished yet.
ATHIEST DAD: Okay, that's fine with me!

Suddenly, their neighbor runs into the house.

ATHIEST NEIGHBOR: Come quick, there's a Christian outside!
ATHIEST MOM: We'll be right there!

The athiest couple quickly put on a pair of black robes and hoods. They then exit the house, and run into the street, where a Christian is nailed to a large, wooden X. He is being burned alive. A crowd of athiests stand around him, all wearing black robes and hoods.

RANDOM ATHIEST: Damn you, Christian! We hate you! We claim to be tolerant of all religions. But we really hate your's! That's because we athiests are hypocritical like that! Die, Christian!

wemhim

Quite a few Christian fundies apparently. Why ELSE are abortion and gay rights being met with such hostility in the government?

[QUOTE="dlp21"]

Why is it that we trumpet the Christian morals....the same ones that say to stone the sinners, and those who enable the sinners(side not only 4 of the 10 commandments are actually laws), the Christian morals that say it is right to sell your daughter, and hold them so high. The same Christian morals that fuel the witch hunts, the renqusistion, the crusades, the destruction of knowledge(they burned the library at Alexandria), has fought tooth and nail to prevent science from progressing, and when they fail triumph it as a gift from God.

Why don't we trumpet the morals of other religions, pacifist religions.

crazykin123

Tell me what one of the ten commandments say to do what you've just described. Religion doesn't cause war, people's ignorance does. I find it ironic that you say the Christian morals tell us to stone the sinners, when Jesus himself said "Let the first who has not sinned, cast the first stone".

I hate that whole New Testament negates the Old Testament stuff.

"If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers...Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you. If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the LORD thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying, Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known; Then shalt thou enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you;Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword."

--DEUTERONOMY 13:6, 8-15

I can quote scripture too.

Because they were made without reason or meaning, there can be no universal good or bad, This Means good and bad is only what they precieve it to be.

123625

While I don't think there is such thing as an objective good or bad I don't understand your logic. How does not being made with purpose = no right and wrong?

Yeah karma and it really is a b**** when your bad. I remeber I had started to take random carts at the supermarket and put it in the designated spot just to help them out and the one day while I was mopping the store a customer took up a mop and actually helped me mop the rest everyone who was working was like WTF. That was a really great time.

blackldragon

http://www.creationtheory.org/Morality/AtheistMorality.xhtml

All questions answered.

CaptHawkeye

Is this the atheist scripture by an athiest priest? or are you just plagirizing, so you dont have to reply directly?

[QUOTE="wemhim"]Well, you could say that about a crickett.foxhound_fox

[QUOTE="blackldragon"]

Yeah karma and it really is a b**** when your bad. I remeber I had started to take random carts at the supermarket and put it in the designated spot just to help them out and the one day while I was mopping the store a customer took up a mop and actually helped me mop the rest everyone who was working was like WTF. That was a really great time.

CptJSparrow

Technically you know that you did something wrong and if you are a strong believer in karma majority something bad will end up happening to you.

That's one thing I never get when you tend to believe in something alot amazing things happen.

[QUOTE="CaptHawkeye"]

http://www.creationtheory.org/Morality/AtheistMorality.xhtml

All questions answered.

rimnet00

Is this the atheist scripture by an athiest priest? or are you just plagirizing, so you dont have to reply directly?

[QUOTE="CptJSparrow"][QUOTE="blackldragon"]

Yeah karma and it really is a b**** when your bad. I remeber I had started to take random carts at the supermarket and put it in the designated spot just to help them out and the one day while I was mopping the store a customer took up a mop and actually helped me mop the rest everyone who was working was like WTF. That was a really great time.

blackldragon

Technically you know that you did something wrong and if you are a strong believer in karma majority something bad will end up happening to you.

That's one thing I never get when you tend to believe in something alot amazing things happen.

[QUOTE="CptJSparrow"][QUOTE="blackldragon"]

Yeah karma and it really is a b**** when your bad. I remeber I had started to take random carts at the supermarket and put it in the designated spot just to help them out and the one day while I was mopping the store a customer took up a mop and actually helped me mop the rest everyone who was working was like WTF. That was a really great time.

blackldragon

Technically you know that you did something wrong and if you are a strong believer in karma majority something bad will end up happening to you.

That's one thing I never get when you tend to believe in something alot amazing things happen.

So, something is morally wrong... if you feel bad about it?

[QUOTE="123625"]

Because they were made without reason or meaning, there can be no universal good or bad, This Means good and bad is only what they precieve it to be.

gobo212

While I don't think there is such thing as an objective good or bad I don't understand your logic. How does not being made with purpose = no right and wrong?

please don't cut out half the post i explained what i thought above my previous statement, common deception.

If you are not the result of being created for meaning and purpose you are without meaning. You can only make meaning for yourself if that is the case.

And if you make your own meaning, this means good and bad are only what you precieve it to be.

I was just sharing my thoughts is all.

[QUOTE="CptJSparrow"][QUOTE="blackldragon"]

Yeah karma and it really is a b**** when your bad. I remeber I had started to take random carts at the supermarket and put it in the designated spot just to help them out and the one day while I was mopping the store a customer took up a mop and actually helped me mop the rest everyone who was working was like WTF. That was a really great time.

blackldragon

Technically you know that you did something wrong and if you are a strong believer in karma majority something bad will end up happening to you.

That's one thing I never get when you tend to believe in something alot amazing things happen.

[QUOTE="gobo212"][QUOTE="123625"]

Because they were made without reason or meaning, there can be no universal good or bad, This Means good and bad is only what they precieve it to be.

123625

While I don't think there is such thing as an objective good or bad I don't understand your logic. How does not being made with purpose = no right and wrong?

please don't cut out half the post i explained what i thought above that statement, common deception.

If you are not the result of being created for meaning and purpose you are without meaning. That meaning is only what you make for yourself then.

Same with good bad.

I was just sharing my thoughts is all.

My beef with karma is that it is inherently a by-product of Christian morality, a tool of self-blame for ill fate: you blame your actions for something bad happening when it has no tangible relation to what you perceive to be the wrong that caused it, in many scenarios, and also is employed to avoid problems by putting faith in an intangible and untenable and unfalsifiable alleged property of matter and energy that will serve as the bringer of justice -- I will never forget the day that I was supposed to turn in fifteen bottle caps for art ****and the instructor did not bother to count them because she was confident that karma would get me if I gave too little.CptJSparrow

[QUOTE="yellowandmushy"][QUOTE="CptJSparrow"][QUOTE="yellowandmushy"]I tend to believe that nobody really has morals that aren't common sense.CptJSparrow

[QUOTE="123625"][QUOTE="gobo212"][QUOTE="123625"]

Because they were made without reason or meaning, there can be no universal good or bad, This Means good and bad is only what they precieve it to be.

CptJSparrow

While I don't think there is such thing as an objective good or bad I don't understand your logic. How does not being made with purpose = no right and wrong?

please don't cut out half the post i explained what i thought above that statement, common deception.

If you are not the result of being created for meaning and purpose you are without meaning. That meaning is only what you make for yourself then.

Same with good bad.

I was just sharing my thoughts is all.

If you were made for no meaning you make your own. Thats what i was saying. This means good and bad are only how you precieve it.

And since you make your own meaning because you were without meaning, Good and bad is only how you precieve it.

[QUOTE="CptJSparrow"]My beef with karma is that it is inherently a by-product of Christian morality, a tool of self-blame for ill fate: you blame your actions for something bad happening when it has no tangible relation to what you perceive to be the wrong that caused it, in many scenarios, and also is employed to avoid problems by putting faith in an intangible and untenable and unfalsifiable alleged property of matter and energy that will serve as the bringer of justice -- I will never forget the day that I was supposed to turn in fifteen bottle caps for art ****and the instructor did not bother to count them because she was confident that karma would get me if I gave too little.foxhound_fox

[QUOTE="CptJSparrow"][QUOTE="yellowandmushy"][QUOTE="CptJSparrow"][QUOTE="yellowandmushy"]I tend to believe that nobody really has morals that aren't common sense.yellowandmushy

Western interpretation that is commonly fallen back upon when one leaves Christianity but remains morally scrupulous in a not-so-dissimilar manner.CptJSparrow

So, something is morally wrong... if you feel bad about it?

rimnet00

Well if a person doesn't feel bad for doing certain things then its not wrong for them no is it?

My beef with karma is that it is inherently a by-product of Christian morality, a tool of self-blame for ill fate: you blame your actions for something bad happening when it has no tangible relation to what you perceive to be the wrong that caused it, in many scenarios, and also is employed to avoid problems by putting faith in an intangible and untenable and unfalsifiable alleged property of matter and energy that will serve as the bringer of justice -- I will never forget the day that I was supposed to turn in fifteen bottle caps for art class and the instructor did not bother to count them because she was confident that karma would get me if I gave too little.CptJSparrow

Yeah see it could probably be this thing with my sister how she always told me if I don't listen to her something bad would happen and none the less something bad always did happen. Not to mention I was raised by a christian family and have to keep my atheism beliefs away from them otherwise I'll probably be put in the middle of a circle with people touching my head saying rebuke thy devil or something.

Well, I haven't been eaten by a cow yet...
wemhim

Who ever said eating another animal is bad. Same goes for killing another human. Far as I'm concerned you could kill all the people you want but that would just be deminishing our race survivability rate and nature has its own agenda.

If you are not the result of being created for meaning and purpose you are without meaning. You can only make meaning for yourself if that is the case.

Same with good bad.

I was just sharing my thoughts is all.

123625

Which people do and easily so, we find our own purpose and somehow tend to remain well adjusted. I'm not religious, much less overtly religious and I reject the premise of moral anti-realism.

What you are arguing is a form of divine command theory, something which has been so far discredited as to be laughable.

[QUOTE="CptJSparrow"]Western interpretation that is commonly fallen back upon when one leaves Christianity but remains morally scrupulous in a not-so-dissimilar manner.foxhound_fox

When in doubt, check the type of karma that the person I was responding to believes in.CptJSparrow

[QUOTE="123625"]

If you are not the result of being created for meaning and purpose you are without meaning. You can only make meaning for yourself if that is the case.

Same with good bad.

I was just sharing my thoughts is all.

Aidenfury19

Which people do and easily so, we find our own purpose and somehow tend to remain well adjusted. I'm not religious, much less overtly religious and I reject the premise of metaethical inquiry.

What you are arguing is a form of divine command theory, something which has been so far discredited as to be laughable.

Edited* above statement.

I am merely saying good and bad is what an aatheist precieves it is all, and that there can be no universal good or evil.

[QUOTE="rimnet00"]

So, something is morally wrong... if you feel bad about it?

blackldragon

Well if a person doesn't feel bad for doing certain things then its not wrong for them no is it?

My beef with karma is that it is inherently a by-product of Christian morality, a tool of self-blame for ill fate: you blame your actions for something bad happening when it has no tangible relation to what you perceive to be the wrong that caused it, in many scenarios, and also is employed to avoid problems by putting faith in an intangible and untenable and unfalsifiable alleged property of matter and energy that will serve as the bringer of justice -- I will never forget the day that I was supposed to turn in fifteen bottle caps for art class and the instructor did not bother to count them because she was confident that karma would get me if I gave too little.CptJSparrow

Yeah see it could probably be this thing with my sister how she always told me if I don't listen to her something bad would happen and none the less something bad always did happen. Not to mention I was raised by a christian family and have to keep my atheism beliefs away from them otherwise I'll probably be put in the middle of a circle with people touching my head saying rebuke thy devil or something.

Well, I haven't been eaten by a cow yet...
wemhim

Who ever said eating another animal is bad. Same goes for killing another human. Far as I'm concerned you could kill all the people you want but that would just be deminishing our race survivability rate and nature has its own agenda.

Edited* above statement.

I am merely saying good and bad is what an aatheist precieves it is all, and that there can be no universal good or evil.

123625

The effective universal good and evil is what has the most utility over alternatives for the greatest number of people, so while there are outliers supposed divine morality does nothing to prevent the actions of the outliers.

The moral justification or objection comes solely through how it helps or harms society. It is a system that works under both humanism and utilitarianism and is as free from distortion as is possible.

i'm not an atheist , but the question of morality is a deep rooted one. Infact large portions of religious texts are based that the reader has a stable set of morals. There are many theories on morality, many work in most cases but theres bound to be a loop-hole when conditions are extreme.

Yes you can ask a person what are your morals, and they may answer, but it will only be stratching the surface. Human morality isn't as simple as an Operating system on your Computers hard drive, it's complexity is abstract and in some cases obscure in those with questionable ethics.

[QUOTE="123625"]

Edited* above statement.

I am merely saying good and bad is what an aatheist precieves it is all, and that there can be no universal good or evil.

Aidenfury19

The effective universal good and evil is what has the most utility over alternatives for the greatest number of people, so while there are outliers supposed divine morality does nothing to prevent the actions of the outliers.

The moral justification or objection comes solely through how it helps or harms society.

Doesnt change the fact, that those universal good and evils were placed by man and its only how they preceive them to be. But not all men and women think these rules or "universal goods and evils" are partically good or partically bad. You don't all agree on the same moral code. how can it be universal if one person dissagrees with what is normally good or bad?

I know, but I was speaking of the karma part. I don't see how it can really be taken that seriously, when well...Quite the opposite occurs.
wemhim

I know I don't really take karma too seriusly but my stupid humanic need makes me have to make connections with certain happenings in life, such as blaming having a crappy life with bad luck even though I know what the truth is. In reality a person can believe what ever they want hell I could say the sky is green and it wouldn't be anymore differnt than saying that it is blue. I can call the sun a bright round thing in the sky and still be correct because thats how I precieve life to be. Truth is only what one believes in. Remeber the question why thwarts all.

[QUOTE="Aidenfury19"][QUOTE="123625"]

Edited* above statement.

I am merely saying good and bad is what an aatheist precieves it is all, and that there can be no universal good or evil.

123625

The effective universal good and evil is what has the most utility over alternatives for the greatest number of people, so while there are outliers supposed divine morality does nothing to prevent the actions of the outliers.

The moral justification or objection comes solely through how it helps or harms society.

Doesnt change the fact, that those universal good and evils were placed by man and its only how they preceive them to be. But not all men and women think these rules or "universal goods and evils" are partically good or partically bad. You don't all agree on the same moral code. how can it be universal if one person dissagrees with what is normally good or bad?

Wow ironically you just helped prove my point at the same time I made my other post kudos.

Doesnt change the fact, that those universal good and evils were placed by man and its only how they preceive them to be. But not all men and women think these rules or "universal goods and evils" are partically good or partically bad. You don't all agree on the same moral code. how can it be universal if one person dissagrees with what is normally good or bad?

123625

Theres really no room for debate in the utility of courses of action, although you can argue to some degree between the course of action the necessities will always come out on top. What are the basest instincts and requirements? Survival, sustenance and reproduction all of which are to some degree interconnected.

Democratic principles are justified under this system as a means to advance common needs.

As for the issue of whether it is "universal" I don't care to argue symantics with you, there are any number of definitions that you could use for that.