How do you answer...?

[_C r y s t a l_RB]

My coworkers and I were discussing religion at work. I don't know how we keep ending up on this topic.

I have one coworker who is catholic (but not obsessed about it), another who doesn't like organized religion, but has a relationship with god, one who's agnostic (At least that's what I told her she was after she described her beliefs to me. She didn't know a term was out there to describe her religious views.), and me, the atheist.

The agnostic asked me how I go on with my day-to-day life believing there isn't something after this life. I responded by saying that death is finite, just as heaven and hell are finite. One ends with you in a "happy place", the other in a "terrible place", the last not giving a damn, because you're dead. None of them leave any prospects of what's to come in them. They are all the end of your life.

The catholic asked me why I don't steal and harm other people if I don't believe in the afterlife. Apparently, she thinks the fear of going to hell is the only thing that would cause a person to be "good." I don't really know how to answer this question. I know my morals have been put in place for me by how I was raised. My parents didn't teach me about god and religion. My mother views life as hell, and the afterlife as heaven. She says that this is the tough part. If you get through this, then you'll be rewarded. She never said that how you get through this life matters. Other than my parents telling me what's "right" from "wrong" and what's "good" from "bad" I never really had any reason to be good and to try to treat others the way I would like to be treated.

How do you answer this question when asked it? What is it that keeps us Atheists from being royal shitheads?  

[Kharybuce]

Well, I start be mentioning that even the most devout theists still commit crimes against their own religion (i.e. Catholic Priest child molesters), so the idea of religion keeping a moral lid on the population is arguable. Anyway, I think everyone's answer to why follow morals is personal. Mine is that I just follow logic and reason. Logic dictates that the golden rule of "Do to others as you would have them do to you" is a rational and reasonable philosophy. So I try not to treat others badly because I wouldn't want them to treat me badly, and that just happens to include rudeness, stealing, rape, murder, and all the areas in between. Mind you, some Atheists are as conservative as die-hard Christians, and some are so liberal they're practiaclly anarchists. In my opion the biggest difficulty in Atheist interaction is this wide spectrum that our morals cover. Hense, in this guild and on other Atheist sites, you'll see a lot debating and sometimes bickering over morals. After all, what are morals than our own opinion on how people should view life and treat each others. "Opinions are like assholes: everyone's got one, and they're all offensive." xd  

[Aaron Lee Morrison]

Avoir Le Retour...

Why are you nice to people? Because it's the damn right thing to do. That's the thing about us Atheists: We aren't confined to being good because a book says to.

...Les Adieux

 

[Tenth Speed Writer]

Helps humanity and makes the world a better place?

I'm nice to others because I like it when others are nice to me, even when I don't deserve it. I feel like we need to just have one big niceness orgy and humanity might evolve or something.  

[Key The Thief]

I'm actually a little afraid of death because I just don't know what'll come after it - that and the fact that hell no I ain't gonna go yet, I still have work t'do.

But, well, I'm nice because, damn, why not? Sure, if you're a b***h now you'll 'go to hell', but you'll also be reguarded as a b***h for the rest of your life, which can still be pretty long.

I do the right thing out of respect for myself and the people I surround myself with, not out of fear of what's going to happen afterwards. Sure, being bad is easy, but being good is a challenge and it's all about control.

I know that doesn't make a lot of sense and doesn't give my 'yes or no, because...' answer, but, well...

If someone asked me that question, I'd respond, 'Because it's I think it's the right thing to do.'

 

[Theophrastus]

Fear as a deterrent is a failure - why else is capital crime committed in states with the death penalty? So saying that Godly laws are keeping people moral is a fallacy and a copout. Further, there is nothing to respect about a culture that does, technically, let its people get away with a lifetime of sin as long as they have a sincere conversion before their death.

I will die. My life will end and eventually everything I know and every life I've touched will fade out. I cannot stop this.

What a glorious thought. How exciting that I have made it out of that great genetic lottery to actually be born! To make it into this world out of all the millions of combinations of genes and eggs and sperm and consequences and societies and times to arrive here in this place and time where I can learn at the speed of light, where I can understand the world around me and where I can live and interact with other people who are just as lucky as me!

As an Atheist I value every breath I breathe because I know it is finite. That every moment is an opportunity and that, from the awe-inspiring vastness of infinite space down to the most trivial joy of a good back rub, I am able to enjoy and understand my world. I won't waste a second of it, and I'd be a monster to stop anyone else from enjoying it.

That is why I am good.  

[ProjectOmicron88]

Why are we good? So the cops don't taze us, bro!  

[Theophrastus]

ProjectOmicron88

Why are we good? So the cops don't taze us, bro!

HAH!  

[AnonymouZ]

ProjectOmicron88

Why are we good? So the cops don't taze us, bro!

This was gonna be my serious response... but it also sounds good as a joke. twisted

But then again, i'm not good... i'm just good enough to not get caught or smart enough to not get tazered. (that dude had it coming)

Thing is, it is mostly like someone here already said. You do unto others what you want them to do to you. Other than that... i AM that royal shithead that you were referring to. But i don't think being atheist has anything to do with my a*****e/son of a b***h ways.  

[_C r y s t a l_RB]

I'm glad so many of you responded. I've found the question of morals to be one of the harder ones to answer. I'm nice to people, because I want them to be nice to me. When they are rude/condescending/mean to me, then I can, and usually do turn into a complete b***h. I just make sure I showed them respect at least once. If they don't want to return it, then they feel my wrath. I don't kill them or anything. It's usually something similar to what they did/said to me.

You all make perfect sense. If we believe in nothing, because we base our beliefs on logic, then our morals should be based on logic too.

I like it. mrgreen  

[Sanguvixen]

You know, the simplest answers are sometimes the best.

Do you really need to have a reason to be good to other people? Do you really need to have a reason to curteous or kind to others?

Actually, you don't need a reason. That is how I would handle that.

You don't need a reason to not steal or commit crimes, you know? It's not as though being a theist makes you less of a potential criminal.

 

[Shaka-FireFly]

Crystal E-B

My coworkers and I were discussing religion at work. I don't know how we keep ending up on this topic.

I have one coworker who is catholic (but not obsessed about it), another who doesn't like organized religion, but has a relationship with god, one who's agnostic (At least that's what I told her she was after she described her beliefs to me. She didn't know a term was out there to describe her religious views.), and me, the atheist.

The agnostic asked me how I go on with my day-to-day life believing there isn't something after this life. I responded by saying that death is finite, just as heaven and hell are finite. One ends with you in a "happy place", the other in a "terrible place", the last not giving a damn, because you're dead. None of them leave any prospects of what's to come in them. They are all the end of your life.

The catholic asked me why I don't steal and harm other people if I don't believe in the afterlife. Apparently, she thinks the fear of going to hell is the only thing that would cause a person to be "good." I don't really know how to answer this question. I know my morals have been put in place for me by how I was raised. My parents didn't teach me about god and religion. My mother views life as hell, and the afterlife as heaven. She says that this is the tough part. If you get through this, then you'll be rewarded. She never said that how you get through this life matters. Other than my parents telling me what's "right" from "wrong" and what's "good" from "bad" I never really had any reason to be good and to try to treat others the way I would like to be treated.

How do you answer this question when asked it? What is it that keeps us Atheists from being royal shitheads?

"The catholic asked me why I don't steal and harm other people if I don't believe in the afterlife." Okay, here's the thing..

Ask the Catholic if she/he would automatically start harming people or stealing if she learned there really is no heaven/hell. If he/she says no, ask why. smile

We're all taught good ethical values from a young age. If we didn't have laws put in place, our species would be suffering. The gorilla expects others in their family to act morally as well. And they don't need a religion for that.

If we all started to murder and harm people, our species would be doomed. It's not helpful too the species or society to harm another. Same goes for stealing. We do whats right too help the species and society. Or else we are doomed, if we do not. Again, we don't need religion for that, or a belief in heaven/hell.  

[Superior Jazz]

Why aren't we all right shits to everyone else? Because when you're the logically superior bunch, you don't need to stoop to that level to get your point accross.
Okay, egoism aside.
We don't do any of that as a whole because society tells us not to. Even those who rebel against society still follow it.
If you kill someone becasue no one told you not to, what stops another from killing you, simply because you didn't tell them?
Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you neccessarily should.
Common sense.
I don't need a book telling me not to kill someone. I don't need religion to tell me not to steal, or cheat, or break the law. The laws are there for my protection as much as everyone elses.

Even if I didn't care about all this, my own sense of self-preservation would prevent me from doing this.
So why don't I be a right s**t about everything? Because I'm better than that. Because I choose not to. Because it's my a** on the line when I get caught.
Because everyone gets caught eventually.  

[Theophrastus]

Superior Jazz

Why aren't we all right shits to everyone else? Because when you're the logically superior bunch, you don't need to stoop to that level to get your point accross.
Okay, egoism aside.
We don't do any of that as a whole because society tells us not to. Even those who rebel against society still follow it.
If you kill someone becasue no one told you not to, what stops another from killing you, simply because you didn't tell them?
Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you neccessarily should.
Common sense.
I don't need a book telling me not to kill someone. I don't need religion to tell me not to steal, or cheat, or break the law. The laws are there for my protection as much as everyone elses.

Even if I didn't care about all this, my own sense of self-preservation would prevent me from doing this.
So why don't I be a right s**t about everything? Because I'm better than that. Because I choose not to. Because it's my a** on the line when I get caught.
Because everyone gets caught eventually.

Despite taking the humorous approach, it's clear to biologists and ethologists that selfishness can and most often does manifest itself in apparent altruism. Being calculatedly charitable to others generally is a benefit to yourself and those who exploit this fact are often ostracized or eliminated from their society. The Selfish Gene is all about this kind of study and fact.  

[Levis Pennae]

The reason I'm nice is because I believe the only thing that goes on is what you did while you were alive, and I'd rather not be remembered for being a p***k.