Atheists - Where do your moral principles come from?

Question

If you do not believe in God where do you reason inside of yourself the difference between right and wrong? Aren't you following morals that are outlined in the bible when you make choices? Ex: lying, cheating, murder...and so on and so forth. What makes you NOT do those things if there is NO conscience inside of you?

Answer 1

No, morals come from public policy and human rights.



There are criminal laws which impose liability for crimes such as fraud, theft or murder (which laws are also based on public policy. Laws are not based on the Bible!) Since I don't want to got to prison, I don't commit crimes.



EDIT: I'm sorry, but with all due respect, you are wrong.

Answer 2

I'm an agnostic, not an atheist, so I do not deny God's existence. Still, I get lumped in with Atheists, so I'll give this a go.



You seem to be basing this on the false premise that a higher power telling you what to do is the only source of morality. I assume by God you mean the Judeo-Christian God, but hundreds of societies - Native Americans, Eastern cultures, Scandinavians, etc. etc., never heard of the Bible, or Jesus, or God, or the Ten Commandments, and yet still managed to have their own systems of morality.



If you want to rationalize it out, morality comes about from survival instinct. Every creature on the planet has the natural instinct to have children and see those children survive to have more children. It's actually a part of evolutionary theory: creatures which have no desire to have children, or to protect those children if they're at risk, don't survive. Humans are the same way. Humans have a natural instinct to have children and take care of them, the same way a bird or a bear does. We call this morality, and yet every mammal and bird on the planet does it. You can then see the origins of other basic principles of morality from survival rational. I'm summing up several thousand years of human development here, but just imagine cavemen following this line of thinking: "Some person or animal may attack me and kill me. But if I have an ally, that will make it 2 against 1. There is strength in numbers. I should ally myself with another person. We should make a pact. If I do not attack him, he will not attack me, and we can aid each other, therefore I will be more likely to survive. More allies mean more protection. I should expand the pact. This item is mine, I would not want it taken from me. Therefore, I will not take my allies things and they will not take mine. Any who murder or steal has broken the pact and can not be trusted. Punishments should be in place to dissuade people from breaking the pact." No God involved, just basic rational thinking that recognizes the path to self survival lies in co operation.

Answer 3

All morals come from the innate human desire to reduce suffering, which leads to social values that most of follow.



The Bible's morality is extremely deficient, what with all the slavery, polygamy, and genocide. Most Christians have moved beyond it, getting their morals from the same places atheists do.



Atheists have a conscience, like everyone else--why wouldn't they? A society of beings with consciences or morals would wipe each other out in short order. Morality is an evolutionary advantage, and even animals have some basic moral and social values.

Answer 4

What makes you think that atheists have no morals or conscience? I am a Christian and have several atheists friends. They are someone of the nicest (and ethical) people I know.



A true follower of Christ's teachings behaves morally because they know in their heart that it is the right thing to do - not only because the Bbile says not to. If the only reason that you don't run around killing, stealing from, and raping people is because the Bible says not to - I will pray for you.



It is best to understand your beliefs instead of just blindly following them. If you are to be a true proponent of Christ's teachings, you must first understand them. Understand WHY it is wrong to steal, kill, etc. instead of just not doing it because the Bible says not to.



Please, I implore you, when you post ignorant content such as this, you make the rest of us look bad.

Answer 5

It's much more the other way round:

Where do you think the bible gets its morality from?



As C S Lewis demonstrated*, there is nothing remarkable or unheard of in the bible's morality.



*in "The Abolition of Man", especially in the appendix, "The Tao", but the preceding sections show how his argument develops.

See below.



Others have shown its consistent development from evolutionary principles, ending up in a very similar position by a very different route.

No deity required.





edit: "one nation under God" in the pledge of allegience only dates from 1954, surely? Inspired by a phrase of Lincoln's in the Gettysberg address (not an infallible source). Hardly writ in stone from the beginning.

Answer 6

There is a conscience inside of us, there just isn't a need to have some one else tell us what THEY decided what is right or wrong. We have functional braincells and can actually think on our own. Right and wrong are intelligent choices not moral choices. A sin is a moral choice which some one made up to control other people.

Answer 7

Empathy, philosophy (especially Utilitarianism), societal expectations.



If religion provided morality, religious people would be honest. Since "under God" was added to the Pledge of Allegiance by the McCarthy Era Congress, clearly religion is a poor source for morality.

Answer 8

1. My conscience which is probably the product of both nature and nurture.

2. There are law codes from the middle east, India and China that pre-date the bible that contain basically the same thing.

3. Where did you get that ridiculous idea that you had to believe in god to have a conscience.

Answer 9

Are you also "confused" because the bible approved of sex slavery, regular slavery, the murder of children for saying a rude thing to their parents, and loads of flat out genocide ?



If anyone really tried to live the values in the bible, they would very swiftly find CPS taking their kids away for abuse, and they would swiftly be arrested for a variety of crimes, including murder.



Human beings did NOT get our morals from the bible or any "god". Your empty assertions that we did, are unsupported by any facts.



"What is asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence."



All societies, even ones of ten people, create rules of conduct and penalties for breaking those rules. After those rules have been around for a while, they get called morals.

Answer 10

And what do you think morals were founded on before the Bible existed?



My morals come from weighing my actions in terms of whether or not they would cause harm to others or whether they would help myself or others. I don't have to have a book and a preacher to tell me. I have the capacity to figure that out for myself with a reasonable degree of certainty.



Besides: Buddhists leave most Christians in the dust anyway for morals. You say, "thou shalt not kill," but you mean only humans. Buddhists say, "I will not deliberately harm any sentient being."



Christians say, "thou shalt not steal." Buddhists say, "I will not take what is not freely given."



Christians say, "Don't get drunk." Buddhists say, "I will not take any alcohol or intoxicant."



Not only do Buddhist morals surpass Biblical morals, but we take ours voluntarily. We lay them on ourselves. We don't have someone or something to decree them from the outside.



EDIT--No. The sense of goodness (read: ethical framework) that I have adopted comes from a belief system that precedes the Bible by nearly a thousand years (Dating from the time that the Canon was closed for the Bible, back to the time that the Buddha walked the earth, ca. 500 BCE, give or take).



EDIT--I agree with you that love is love, hate is hate, compassion is compassion, regardless of the beliefs of the person exercising those qualities. The issue at hand isn't those qualities, but ethics, and the origin of ethics. In this regard, the similarities are skin deep, and the assumptions underlying our morals and ethics have nothing in common at all. Christian ethics presuppose and require a creator-God to whom all are accountable. This introduces the concept of sin. Buddhist morals, for example, presuppose nor require a God at all, and there is no judgment. Buddhist ethics and morals are measured purely in terms of suffering and well-being. At the same time, your claim is effectively that ethics stem from the Bible, and it appears to be that if one does not follow the Bible, he has no conscience. This is not true. This is another point of difference for which there is no reconciliation.

Answer 11

A sense of right and wrong has nothing to do with religios affiliation. People have done terribly evil things in the name of God, why the hell wouldn't you think people could do very good things just because it is the right thing to do. Compassion and empathy have nothing to do with where you spend your sunday mornings.



Edit: IF someone calls me ugly, it hurts me feelings. It is logical to assume, when I call someone ugly, it hurts their feelings. If I inflict pain on others, how can I not expect other people to behave in a simlar way? And if they are doing mean things, it will certainly come back to haunt me. It's LOGIC. which makes it the opposite of religion, if you think about it.

Not to mention it feels bad inside. Not because I believe in god, but because a sense of empathy is part of being of higher intelligence. We are able to put ourselves in other people's positions. Even some animals do it, to a much lesser extent, of course.



EDIT EDIT: I was raised by an Agnostic father. A man who would do anything for anyone. He was raised by Agnostic or Athiest parents. So...there goes your handed down through generations as the bible theory.

Answer 12

When I think of morals, I think about stories both fiction and nonfiction material. I think about the moral of the story, one doesn't need a specific religion to define his or her morals, because you can get your morals from anywhere, from experience and learning from your mistakes, history like slavory and sexism, or stories like santaclaus which teachs people to give out of kindness. Just because someone doesn't believe in god doesn't mean they don't have any morals. Though there may be similarities, everyone has different morals. Even among christians, some christians feel some morals sanctioned in their religion is more important than other morals sanctioned in their religion, this is why you have liberal christians, concervative christians, literal christians etc. Even in our own household and church, we all have different interpretations, different interpretations comes different perceptions, different perceptions comes different beliefs and morals.

Answer 13

Empathy.



I know what would hurt me. I understand that what hurts me would hurt another. Therefor I do not do it.



That's the so-called "Golden Rule" and it was around for thousands of years before the bible was written. It's not a "rule"; it's the way we evolved for the protection of the species. Those who are aberrant are known as sociopaths; they have no sense of empathy and do not believe their acts affect others.



I find it very sad that any person would act in a moral fashion only because some book tells them they will be punished if they do not. I fear no punishment, yet I do right all on my own.



edit -- the additions to your question disply an ignorance of world and U.S. history. I'll chalk it up to your youth, but please read something other than religious propaganda... You are being told lies.

.

Answer 14

Well It's our belief that the bible was man made, so that pretty much answers your question.



Morals are made through society, we learn that certain things are right and wrong, and we form our own.



You are brainwashed by a book, we are brainwashed by each other.



Oh, and about our morals being given to us by Christianity, there are nations that don't subscribe to your bs and yet function with their morals.



Sure, our morals might be derived from the bible, but the bible was man-made, so yes, our morals were formed by a group of who knows how many men.



And how many morals from the bible do we NOT follow? Stoning gays, killing divorced people, killing people who eat lobster...



You're focusing on what obviously humans have agreed to and written into their made up stories. I don't see the EUREKA! personally.

Answer 15

society and instincts



no, i dont believe the bibles claims, and its versions of right and wrong are very different to my own and to the rest of soceity outside of religion

th ebible is religious morals, not sociological ones



i dont cheat, cos i dont want to, because me and my boyf agree that if we ever do meet soemone, its not cheating and it is allowed, we basicalyl accept our natural instincts, not deny them, and that way, we never have cheated, in 8 years



i do not wish to murder anyone, and those i do, i dont because the law says i woudl end up in prision and because i dont want to hurt other people



lying, we all lie everry day, small lies

liek, how are you today 'im fine' are you really fine?

thats very rare

so you just lied, a small lie, but its STILL a lie none the less

lies are only wrong when you CANT stop lying and when the lie will hurt others more than the truth

Answer 16

Dear blueeyed grl ;

Let me tell you a small incident for clarity:

when our Master was 5 years old, a group of learned people from Brahma Samajam ( These members believe God,but say God has no shape and it is foolish to pray God in Idols and names.) have visited his village.

Our Master's father was a great person well versed in every thing, all scriptures, religious knowledge, medicine, and all subjects, name any, He is authority. So Brahma Samajam masters also used to visit him and learn from him.

After discussions, he has asked our Master to take the team around the village and show them everything.

Our Master aged 5 years, has shown them the entire village to their liking and pleasure and finally taken them to an age old LORD VISHNU Temple.

He asked them to come inside to see the Lord.

But they have declined to enter the Temple.

Our Master asked them,," why don't you enter the temple. ?"

They said, " God is there every where and through out. So we don't pray God in the statue shape in a temple. It is against our philosophy."

Then our Master said, "When you agree God is everywhere, He should be in the Temple, in the Statue , in the Idol also. How do you decline his presence and hesitate to see God inside?"

The Group members astonished for the simple logic posed by a 5 year old boy.



The Group accepts God is every where. So they discourage worshiping God specifically in the shape of Idols and in Temples. The pity is that, they could not visualize that , God, who can be every where can also be within the Idols and in the temples. This has been taught by our Master who was 5 years old. So what happened to the common sense of the learned persons of this Group?



Same thing applies to the persons you are referring.



When we are born, we do not who is our mother, who is our father. Mother we first recognize, because she gives her breast milk for our living. She gives the warmth to live. So when mother shows a person and introduces to as our father, we agree to accept him as father. But do we know him? If mother do not say, can we identify our father?

No. It is also same with God.

Not only Morals, the way of life, knowledge,guidance, protection, Strength and everything we learn from HIM, to have a happy life.



This is because we trust that there is some one who is our Origin. The entire Globe belongs to Him. So we can use the Globe, but have no right to spoil it at our pleasure,. This responsibility is realized only when we accept a Lord above.

Answer 17

Interesting that you equate having a conscience with belief in a deity. It's not really the same thing.



My morals are based on empathy and caring for my fellow man, being the sort of person I'd like to be, and staying out of trouble.



I reason right and wrong by how I feel about it.

Answer 18

Good gods, stop asking this damn question. Every society ever has had rules that make it work. Morals are the oldest of those rules that are incredibly ingrained in our heads. All social creatures have their own version of morals, from ants to wolves to chimps, it's just that we understand our own. Morals have never been handed down by the gods, if they had we'd be raping murdering, machines.

Answer 19

there are laws that if they are broken you would have to pay with jail time or possibly death. On the other hand we feel just like everyone else. If we see someone being abused or something we feel pain and so I act on it. You dont have to think that something is right or wrong in order to do it. for instance we might feel like killing someone is the right thing to do but that doesnt mean that we will kill that person

Answer 20

Its very arrogant to claim atheists do not have a conscience. Of course

they do like any decent human being.

Chrisitians have burnt people, intimidated and beheaded...

My mother put the fear of hell into me everyday and I look back and see that as cruel... I was always made to feel unworthy

So PUH-lease!

Im a Chrisitan, but will not be assocaited with talk like that...

Answer 21

That book your talking about was written by man...so, Dr.Seuss is the answer to your question. He made as much sense and the people who wrote the bible did.

Answer 22

Contrary to popular belief -- Atheists do have a conscience, and have morals that come from within, family, community, and society.



You need to reread the Constitution -- our founding fathers never mentioned God in it!

Answer 23

From the same place you do.



(Not an archaic book!!)



*edit* Most of the Founding Fathers were deists who supported the separation of church and state.



By mentioning them are you implying that all non-Americans aren't moral?

Answer 24

eBay









What kind of stupid ignorant question is this? I don't want people to do those things to me so I don't do them to others. It's called common sense & compassion (not something "handed down"). You obviously have neither common sense or compassion so I pity you.



Edit: Of course you are still confused because all you have is a book that dictates your actions, thoughts, & emotions.

Answer 25

Difficult to answer. Darwin said compassion is good for human race, that´s why evolution has preferred it within humans.

Answer 26

I ate a xtian babby once, I think the meat was tainted, and ever since I have had these blasted morals!!

Answer 27

Common sense.

Answer 28

From a fortune cookie

Answer 29

From my parents/school/society/sense of right and wrong

You think, i need a middle age manual, to recognize, if i do any harm to others or to my self?

Answer 30

Empathy



And the force, of course.

Answer 31

Reason and logic. It's pretty easy, really. Being good is in everyone's own self-interests.

Answer 32

from a bubble gum wrapper.

Answer 33

God instilled the morals in them.



*giggles*