Lady Checkmate's headline: "Does Atheistic Morality Make Sense?"
Can Atheists provide a coherent foundation and justification for their appeals to morality? What kind of options do Atheists have in terms of justifying their moral claims?
Atheists have VERY limited options. So, now the have to create a VERY complex system with limited option. Their ethical system is preference.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rPCIooYmgM
Lady Checkmate:
13 comments
I'll second Kanna's statement and add that my morality is based on the idea that other people have the right to live their lives any way they want to, unless it interferes with someone else's option to do the same. In other words, unlike religious and political fundies, I don't think it's my role in life to tell other people how to live.
"Does Atheistic Morality Make Sense?"
...oh, I dunno. Just ask long-time Christian Jonathan Edwards .
One day, he realised that he can be a good person without God. He recanted of his long -time beliefs and became an Atheist. Since then, his star is in the ascendant; since his flawless presenting of the 2012 London Paralympics for Channel 4 (also the 2016 Rio Paralympics for them), he's now the go-to guy for sports presenting. 2014 Sochi. Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Tour De France. 2018 Pyeongchang...?!
No flies on him. Only good press. Comes with the territory of being a good person since he became an Atheist.
Oh, and can you say 'OSA S'...?!
Checkmate, Lady.
It's called empathy. I don't do to others what I'd prefer not to have done to me. Even your Jesus thought this was the way to go.
Matthew 7:12 "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."
I mean, seriously, it's not that fucking hard except for Christians who can't seem to get it.
If my eleven-year-old son can start with "I'm a person, and I don't like being hurt" and proceed to reason out the framework of a moral system before the traffic light turns green, I have to wonder why you need an ancient book to teach you how to behave.
Does atheist here means everyone who understands that what you are claiming to be divine authority is not? Or that the claims you are justifying on said authority are actually yours? When you say morality, does it include ethics and law codes?
"What kind of options do Atheists have in terms of justifying their moral claims?"
It really depends, but many, they can be informed by history, law, psychology, biology, or just common sense. Noone needs a divine authority to understand why stealing can be problematic. Everyone, including other animals, can attempt basic conflict avoidance. Post-agricultural societies understand the need for law and justice, replacing the chaos of vigilantism and revenge.
Human rights advancements in modern societies can also be considered to excel over the standards of many previous societies. Would you prefer to live with the fear of being stoned anytime someone who hates you reports lies about you (i.e. falsely claims that you worked on Sunday)? It's the kind of situation you could find yourself in if we lived under an Abrahamic theocracy. Or if you were a girl or a woman, would you like to be punished because someone raped you? Would that be objective superior morality? Especially that no angel or deity is likely to come to your rescue even if you are innocent.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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