Where do we get our Morals?

 

In a big debate with a theist the other night this question came up. So I thought I’d comment on it.

One of the biggest arguments against Atheism is that we don’t have any morals. Morals, after all, come from the Bible. Well, the problem is that is that no one should get morality from the Bible. If you actually have read The Bible, there is some pretty brutal stuff. Slavery, for example:

 However, you may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you.  You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land.  You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance.  You may treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must never be treated this way.  (Leviticus 25:44-46 NLT)

And here’s one from the New Testament

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. (Ephesians 6:5 NLT)

 

There also isn’t much in the way of woman’s rights in The Bible:

    If a man is caught in the act of raping a young woman who is not engaged, he must pay fifty pieces of silver to her father.  Then he must marry the young woman because he violated her, and he will never be allowed to divorce her.  (Deuteronomy 22:28-29 NLT)

Nor much in the way of mercy:

But Moses was furious with all the military commanders who had returned from the battle.  "Why have you let all the women live?" he demanded.  "These are the very ones who followed Balaam's advice and caused the people of Israel to rebel against the LORD at Mount Peor.  They are the ones who caused the plague to strike the LORD's people.  Now kill all the boys and all the women who have slept with a man.  Only the young girls who are virgins may live; you may keep them for yourselves. (Numbers 31:7-18 NLT)

What about World Peace? Once in Sunday school I mentioned praying for World Peace and the Preacher was shocked. World Peace what a terrible thing to pray for…

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” (Matthew 10:34)

 

Obviously people pick and choose the good stuff from The Bible and throw out the things they don’t like. No one can follow every rule in The Bible. Just read My Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs. He went through The Bible and found over 700 rules, including “You should not lie on a bed where a menstruating woman has lain, and you can't sit on a chair where she has sat (Leviticus 15:20).  Are there any theists out there following this one?

So if we do not get morality from the bible where do we get our morals? Well, that’s for everyone to decide for themselves. In fact, many Atheists have strived to write their own “10 Commandments”. Richard Dawkins cites the following rules in his book:

1. Do not do to others what you would not want them to do to you. (See Golden Rule.)

2. In all things, strive to cause no harm.

3. Treat your fellow human beings, 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 joy and wonder.

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 reason and experience; do not allow yourself to be led blindly by others.

10. Question everything.

 

Atheists, (or at least most of them) are also humanists. They care about what is happening on Earth right now. They aren’t looking ahead to some promised afterlife.

If there is one thing that is true about humans and morals it is that morals change with time. But as society grows, morals grow too. The future is bright. Proof of this fact can be seen when we look one-hundred-fifty years into the past at one of the most liberal minds at the time:

“I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in anyway the social and political equality of the white and black races – that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race. I say upon this occasion I do not perceive that because the white man is to have the superior position the negro should be denied everything.” ~Abraham Lincoln

Why Atheism?

Why Atheism? Well, as I argued in my previous blog, Atheism is the default position. No one believes anything unless they are given evidence. Many children are raised religious, but when children grow up many question what their parents have taught them.

It was a slow process for me, realizing that God wasn’t real. But some big questions pushed me to this conclusion. The biggest question is probably, “Why my religion?” I could have been born in India or in Saudi Arabia and then I would certainly be a Hindu or a Muslim. I could have been born 2,000 years ago and worshiped Roman Gods or I could have been born in West Africa and worshiped the Great Juju at the Bottom of the Sea.

As an Educator it is my job to be concerned about what is true. I teach students from many countries, some who are religious and some who are not. Something that might be hard for people to accept is that there is such thing as truth. Truth isn’t just something one person can decide on their own. It’s not a matter of opinion. There is real truth in this world and we have to agree on the best way to find that truth.

 Almost every science teacher (except for possibly ones in Alabama) teaches the Scientific Method. Tests should be reviewable and repeatable. If something doesn’t stand up to science (like ghosts and fairies and gods) than there is no good reason that you should believe it. The bottom line is people should care about what is true. If you believe something but have no good evidence, you should stop believing in that thing.

Many people cite the fact that they really feel deep down inside that the God they pray to is real. They have faith in their feeling. But there are two things wrong with this:

First of all, feelings can be pretty far from reality. You can’t always trust things based on feelings or even your five senses. Examples are optical illusions, like the ones where one line looks longer than the other and you will need a ruler to prove otherwise. Your eyes lie to you. Another example is tiredness. I stayed up for over a day playing trivia last year and started hallucinating. People hear voices. Kids actually see imaginary friends and can’t distinguish between their imaginary friends from real people. Intuitions and deep-rooted feelings can be (and often are) wrong.

Second of all faith is not a good thing. When people have faith it means they believe something without having any good reason to believe that thing. A middle-school boy who has a crush on a girl might have faith that they are meant to be together and that one-day they will actually end up together. The truth might be that the girl doesn’t know he exists or that she hates the boys guts. How many middle-school crushes result in life-long relationships? Not many. But try to reason with someone with a crush, middle-school or not. People sometimes wish things to be true so badly, that those things can seem very, very real.

It is no coincidence that the more educated someone is, the more likely they are to be Atheists. 95% of scientist do not believe in a god. Probably this is because it is their job to determine what is true and what isn’t. They deal in evidence and they don’t take things on faith. No one should.