Can Atheists be moral?
Today I posted a response to a posting on Dust in the Light, which claimed that self-interest as a moral compass is not as viable as a belief in God. Here is my response:
Self-interest or what I call "expanded self-interest" can certainly be a viable moral compass for non-theists.
Self-interest is not just interest for the self. The urge to procreate extends self-interest toward our spouses and children. This is why parents willingly give up a great deal, including body organs in some cases, for the well being of their children. Beyond the immediate family is interest toward the person's clan, or whatever group they belong to. This is why soldiers give up their lives for their countries.
During World War II, thousands of Russian soldiers gave up their lives to liberate their homeland from the Nazi invaders. While it is impossible to know how many of these soldiers subscribed the official atheist beliefs, certainly many of them were, and they didn't require a belief in God to give up their lives for their families and communities.
The problem with using only religion as the moral compass is that there are almost as many versions of religious morality as there are religions. The assumption that many people arguing in favor of theism make is that important moral values are derived from religion, and can only be derived from religion. But what happens when a religion, or someone's interpretation of it, interprets moral values differently. Osama bin Laden's religion interprets the death of 3000 people on 9/11 as God's plan. It's ALL moral relativism, and in the case of religious believers morality is relative to one's religion and one's interpretation of it. That's why I believe religion is a reflection of the person who practices it.
Another way of looking at this would be what I call "moral maturity." A morally immature person acts in narrow self interest only. If he wants to do something, the question is "Is it allowed?" If not, he asks "What are the chances of getting caught?" For the morally immature, the only factor moderating behavior is the fear of punishment.
Religion is useful for moderating the behavior of the morally immature. If you parents, teacher, or the police are not watching you, but you believe in an omniscient God that watches you all the time, you may think twice about doing something forbidden, even if punishment may be deferred until the afterlife.
But for the morally mature, behavior choices are not on fear of punishment, but on principals. For me, these principals are based on respect for others, and acting as much as possible as if the world was the way I'd want it to be. If I find a lost wallet containing cash, I will make every possible effort to return it to it's owner, because in my vision of the perfect world, that's what anyone finding my lost wallet would do. If I kept the cash and threw away the wallet, I wouldn't fear God's wrath, but I would feel hypocritical for not extending a courtesy to others that I expect them to extend to me.
Self-interest or what I call "expanded self-interest" can certainly be a viable moral compass for non-theists.
Self-interest is not just interest for the self. The urge to procreate extends self-interest toward our spouses and children. This is why parents willingly give up a great deal, including body organs in some cases, for the well being of their children. Beyond the immediate family is interest toward the person's clan, or whatever group they belong to. This is why soldiers give up their lives for their countries.
During World War II, thousands of Russian soldiers gave up their lives to liberate their homeland from the Nazi invaders. While it is impossible to know how many of these soldiers subscribed the official atheist beliefs, certainly many of them were, and they didn't require a belief in God to give up their lives for their families and communities.
The problem with using only religion as the moral compass is that there are almost as many versions of religious morality as there are religions. The assumption that many people arguing in favor of theism make is that important moral values are derived from religion, and can only be derived from religion. But what happens when a religion, or someone's interpretation of it, interprets moral values differently. Osama bin Laden's religion interprets the death of 3000 people on 9/11 as God's plan. It's ALL moral relativism, and in the case of religious believers morality is relative to one's religion and one's interpretation of it. That's why I believe religion is a reflection of the person who practices it.
Another way of looking at this would be what I call "moral maturity." A morally immature person acts in narrow self interest only. If he wants to do something, the question is "Is it allowed?" If not, he asks "What are the chances of getting caught?" For the morally immature, the only factor moderating behavior is the fear of punishment.
Religion is useful for moderating the behavior of the morally immature. If you parents, teacher, or the police are not watching you, but you believe in an omniscient God that watches you all the time, you may think twice about doing something forbidden, even if punishment may be deferred until the afterlife.
But for the morally mature, behavior choices are not on fear of punishment, but on principals. For me, these principals are based on respect for others, and acting as much as possible as if the world was the way I'd want it to be. If I find a lost wallet containing cash, I will make every possible effort to return it to it's owner, because in my vision of the perfect world, that's what anyone finding my lost wallet would do. If I kept the cash and threw away the wallet, I wouldn't fear God's wrath, but I would feel hypocritical for not extending a courtesy to others that I expect them to extend to me.
posted by Dancar | 12:58 PM
1 Comments:
I lived with an athiest for 10 years who is as moral as they come much to my initial surprize.
Post a Comment
<< Home