Jeez Lauren, way to not update for like two weeks.
:)
Today I bring you a few things I've found concerning atheism and morals.
The assumption is that morals come from religion, and therefore atheists have no way of learning to be moral, and are thus immoral.
Well, not so says I and many others.
These are the "New Ten Commandments" as I found them in Richard Dawkin's book, The God Delusion. Although he got them from an atheist website. Anyway.
1. Do not do to others as you would not want them to do to you.
2. In all things, strive to cause no harm.
3. Treat your fellow human brings, your fellow living things, and the world in general with love, honesty, faithfulness and respect.
4. Do not overlook evil or shrink from administering justice, but always be ready to forgive wrongdoing freely admitted and honestly regretted.
5. Live life with a sense of wonder and joy.
6. Always seek to be learning something new.
7. Test all things; always check your ideas against the facts, and be ready to discard even a cherished belief if it does not conform to them.
8. Never seek to censor or cut yourself off from dissent; always respect the right of others to disagree with you.
9. Form independent opinions on the basis of your own reasons and experience; do not allow yourself to be led blindly by others.
10. Question everything.
I personally find those much more inspiring and worthy of being followed than the original Ten Commandments.
These were written by atheists, and they clearly demonstrate that religion is not required to find morality.
I think that being an atheist has given me the opportunity to discover what is right and wrong through personal experience and common logic. And because I formed my morals myself, I fully understand why I believe in them.
I'll leave you with a video I found on YouTube that I adore:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
more thoughts on your writing, I'm not very religious myself but atheism does offer an outsiders view on society I agree with that.
however religion is one of the stones that we have built civilization on, it is far from perfect I am the first to admit this but at the same time so much of our development as a species is owed to the beliefs we created and the structure that is in religion. If you look into each religion their ceremonies, writing, buildings and very beliefs reflect the times and development of its people, religion does not cause war exactly it just reflects the insecurities, hatred, and violence that is already present in man.
I know this isn't very relevant to what you were saying but morals as you say are not taught be religion but in ancient times they were best enforced by a fear of an all mighty and for some that is the only fear that will keep them in line, Laws are based on morals and for years laws were reinforced by religion, they support each other so it is understanable why some people find it hard to understand how you can be good without religion to scare it into you.
It's writings like these that are needed to educate others into the complexity that religion and even the absence of it play on our lives and beliefs, because even no religion has become in its own ironic way a religion of its own.
I look forward to reading more of what you have to say
-M.A
Post a Comment