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Do you believe that atheists are less moral than theists?
Many Americans (and people throughout the world) will not vote for a President or leader if they are known to be an atheist. The question is why? The answer is that atheists are thought to be immoral or at least less moral than someone who embraces religion. There are various myths about atheist morality and in this article I will attempt to work through the most popular ones and show that atheists are no less moral than their Theist counterparts.
There is no reason for an atheist to be moral
Many Theists will state that atheists have no reason to be moral. It’s probably the single most used argument against atheists. Theists will argue that if there is no God or Supreme Being or judge, then everything is up for grabs and there is no reason to be moral.
I’d like to point out that even if the above myth were true; it’s still an illogical argument. The statement puts forth the idea that atheism (the absence of a God) isn’t true, rational or logical and that Theism is true, rational and logical, when in fact there is no proof whatsoever that a God exists. This means that without verifiable proof of Gods existence, the Theist asks that their set of moral codes be held up as the standard without any proof that it is a valid moral code. In other words, the Theists moral code that they live by is no more valid than an atheist’s.
The second thing that is wrong with this myth is that it assumes that atheists don’t care about the suffering of their fellow human beings. It presupposes that atheists only care about themselves and without a God, are incapable of feeling any empathy towards other people.
On the other hand, you could turn this argument around -- If God is a prerequisite of morality, than presumably, many Theists only act morally because their God told them too. This could mean that they have a hard time feeling empathy and only force themselves to behave morally because God supposedly told them too.
If you take God out of the equation, you are left with the same basic question: What is the point of morality?
The point to morality is that we should care about our fellow man and try to relieve any suffering we may run across. Morality is required if we want to build a successful social structure. Human communities thrive when each of us takes some time to consider the feelings, needs and wants of other people. You do not need a God for that. All you need is common sense and empathy.
You need God for morals to exist at all
Sometimes when Theists fail with the above argument, they will resort to the argument that without a God to provide moral absolutes, humanity has no way to choose which moral code is best.
For example, they might argue that Nazism can be viewed as just as valid a moral code as the one North Americans live by today. After all, without a God to step in and tell us that killing more than six million people is wrong, we might never figure it out on our own.
However, instead of supposing that there is a God who is needed to tell us right from wrong, we can just as easily say that a ‘good’ morality is one that enhances society and minimizes suffering. This would mean that the argument that the Nazi’s have a sound moral system is preposterous to most Atheists because it enhances the suffering of a huge segment of the population and doesn’t further society. We can look at our own history and see what works and what causes suffering. By valuing life, we can clearly see that Nazism is not a good way of life and therefore we can rightfully reject it.
The fact that we have a moral code proves there is a God
This is another popular argument that Theists like to make. This argument puts forth the idea that we are moral because God made us that way. Without God, we would be nothing more than beasts looking to satisfy every whim, fancy and pleasure we can find. It also presumes that every human being has some sort of moral conscience put there by God.
The problem with this argument is that while most of us share the same moral values it is a logical fallacy to argue that God put it there. The Atheist could put forth the argument (with significantly more proof than the Theist) that our morality stems from evolutionary selection. In other words, we are social animals and those social aspects are what enabled us to become successful as a species.
We can also look at the animal world and see some of the same traits we exhibit. For example, chimpanzees exhibit shame when they do something that violates the social order of their group. So do dogs for that matter. Should we then jump to the conclusion that chimpanzees and dogs believe in God or that they are social creatures that have developed a code of conduct that benefits their species?
Atheists are more likely to be criminals
I almost didn’t add this one to the list because it’s ridiculous in my opinion. I decided to add it because someone in a seed of mine actually made this argument.
There is no proof that atheists are more likely to perpetrate a crime than a Theist. Countries that have more atheistic tendencies do not have a significantly greater violent crime rate. In fact, even just looking at Canada (19%-30% say they don’t follow any organized religion) and the US where religion is much more prevalent, you’ll find the crime rate to be FAR less in Canada than the US.
Atheists do not fear punishment or death so they can’t be moral
This argument seems to put forward the idea that because there is no fear of an afterlife, hell or some type of punishment for wrongdoing while we’re alive, those atheists have no reason to uphold moral standards.
I would argue that this is the opposite of reality. Christianity (and many Theist religions) believe in an afterlife. For example, Christians believe that if they ask Jesus for forgiveness that their sins will be forgiven and they’ll be in Heaven once they die.
If we look at that scenario, what is there really to fear? Why fear death if you think you will live forever in paradise?
In reality, most atheists probably fear death more than Theists. It doesn’t make sense to think that all atheists don’t fear death when their basic stance is that this life is all they have and they should make the most of it while they’re here, when the Theist believes death is a gateway into another state of existence.
Atheists lack of moral values in modern culture
We see in modern culture where the religious are touted to be morally superior. For example, if you’ve ever seen a vampire movie, you’ll probably see a priest brandishing a cross and some holy water to destroy the evil vampire. Another example would be movies based on demon possession, where it takes a religious person to banish the pesky demon.
While I know these types of movies (which I love by the way) are made to entertain us, they do help to reinforce the image that religious people are morally stronger than a Godless person and more able to combat evil no matter what form that evil takes.
I simply put forward the argument that people are people. Being an atheist doesn’t make you morally corrupt. There are good and bad people in every segment of society.
