Atheism and Moral Values

[DanaC]

Again, this is no more than a statement of a belief, not an actual provable fact any more than its antithesis.
Dana, these seem to require as much belief/ faith as a belief/ faith of any other type.

There's been a good deal of work done in this area of research and study. Given that I am pretty sure in my own mind that there is no God, and given the overwhelming evidence for evolution and the growing body of evidence for genetic predispositions and 'hardwired' systems, i honestly feel no more inclined to hold a place for God in my thinking than I do to hold a place for the tooth fairy. I've seen no convincing arguments for the existence of a creator God; therefore there is no reason for me to factor in his possible existence when i examine a question like this. Because my worldview does not contain a God, arguments which hinge on the necessity of a God don't really weigh much with me.

I am too tired to start digging out the Pinker books, but the evidence for a genetic/born propensity to particular moralities and political persuasions (within each culture's spectrum) is compelling and growing more extensive. In the meantime, the evidence for God's involvement in morality seems to hinge on an inability (or unwillingness) to see us as the biological organisms that we in fact are. What evidence is there that morality requires an agent beyond our humanity to function or exist? I don't mean what philosophical arguments can be posited, i mean what evidence is there? Because there's a whole slew of evidence for the more mechanistic view.

Anybody got that link to TED's talk on political morality? It's very interesting and expresses much of this stuff (though specifically regarding political persuasions) much better than I am able to.

Exactly, the perfect example of selfish motivation unless there are additional moral values at work.

Unless? The two are not mutually exclusive. Altruism is fundamentally selfish and morality is society's act of self-preservation.


God did not make us, and he did not make our moralities. We made God/s and we made the moralities variously ascribed to him/her/them. Most likely to explain how the world works and to maintain social stability, amongst other things, codifying sets of behaviours which we'd evolved a predisposition towards.

[richlevy]

I can't say much about Atheism, but I can say that devout religious belief is not a guarantee of moral values.

Cases in point.

Jack Abramoff
Bernard Madoff
John G. Bennett Jr. (New Era Foundation Ponzi Scheme)

Some of the most distasteful people I have ever met have claimed to be devout. I'm not saying that all religious people are. I am saying that religion does not automatically guarantee ethics. This is especially true when dealing with 'outsiders'. Native Americans and African Americans can certainly give a good account of their encounters with some 'devout' individuals.