BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality Atheist Can Atheism REALLY be defended?

Oh, I forgot, you are male. That explains everything. Now go back to wherever you came from.

I am confused are you saying that Atheists do not know the difference between right or wrong or what is legal and what is illegal?

Again I am not an Atheist (actually I do not know where I fit in on the religion scale) but I have never met an Atheist that felt raping a child was okay.

Ack! Jordan, I come into your defense, and then you make things ugly - that's a "no-no"!

My husband graduated college from Ga Tech, that being said, many of his friends are extremely "technical minded", and big "prove it to me" types - so it follows that a few of them are atheists. We have a very intersting dinner group that gets together once every month or two that consists of us (the Baptists), a couple that is Catholic, a couple that is Jewish, and a couple made up of an Atheist and his wife who is sort of New Age/Naturist (she has no declared religion, but kind of believes in "nature/nurture").

The guy who is an atheist has very definite codes of right/wrong and these were established in his upbringing, and I have no doubt he will instill these same values in his daughter. He is a good man and I would trust him with my life. I wish I could convince him of my beliefs because I feel a great grief in that I feel responsible that he will no be going to Heaven with me. But this does not mean that I feel he is any less a good person here on earth!

There are many good people that are atheist and agnostic, these people have not chosen "evil" because they have chosen to not believe in God.

But this is why discussions like this are often counterproductive. Christians come onto these boards trying (with good intentions, at least initially) to change people's minds, and debates are started. Then we get frustrated and irritated and vent what we shouldn't say out loud (I have been guilty of that, too.) <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> Which just damages our witness and what we are trying to express. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

What's the opposite of okay? Wrong! Athiests cannot view anything as MORALLY wrong, because morals come from a belief in good vs evil.

So yea, athiests cannot feel raping a child is WRONG, since their beliefs are that nothing is wrong.

To believe in right vs wrong, good vs evil, you cannot be athiest. So athiests don't think child raping, beastiality, etc are wrong. Because they CAN'T believe anything is wrong or they admit good vs evil exists.

I think there is a big distinction to be made between ATHIESTS and spiritual people without a religion!

You might be surprised what the 'common man' or woman is capable of thinking and debating. Occasionally we might lack the BIG WORDS that so eloquently make a point, but we tend to get there eventually. (And some of us don't have to plagiarize to do it.)

BTW morals are not limited to religious groups. You might want to sneak a peek at a dictionary or take a class in ethics. Religions can impact your morals and ethics, but societal values play a bigger role. I would imagine the cannibal cultures have a different set of societal values than the good ol' USA of today, but they did have rules and morals. Based on that analogy, the values associated with atheism in previous posts is clearly erroneous since pedophilia, rape, and murder are not acceptable societal mores in advanced cultures today.

As for having "faith" in elevators and whatnot ... we may not know all the components of the technology we use, but there are rules regarding its care and usage. We have to assume that care was taken on the items we are not responsible for (elevator) and are responsible for those we maintain (our auto). BTW I NEVER get in the car and assume I'm going to be accident-free - there's freakin' idiots on the roads with me!! Science has shown us the composition of the sun and scientists track changes. I'm certain they would tell us if we could expect it to burn out tomorrow. A reasonable decision or assumption based on scientific knowledge is not 'faith'.

It's really too bad that you don't know anything about atheism, including how to spell it, or about atheists. Of course, if you had bothered to read and pay attention to the posts of many of the people here, you would be in the position of knowing that what you're saying isn't true, but continuing to believe it anyway. So, would that make you a liar or a hypocrite? Do you really think that anyone's going to take you seriously when you ignore everything that you don't want to hear?

"If you are an ABSOLUTE athiest, who believes 100% there is no creator, then you would not feel OBLIGATED to do what is MORAL or RIGHT."

In fact, most atheists DO feel obligated to do what is moral or right, including giving the ignorant a chance to say their piece.

"For instance, the columbine shooters were evolutionists who said they were merely "killing off the weak" doing evolution's job, etc."

I don't know whether they claimed to be evolutionists, but I'd bet any amount of money they were as ignorant about evolution as you probably are. No reputable supporter of the theory of evolution believes it's an excuse for killing off anybody.

"Most athiests are more likely to see nothing wrong with homosexuality, beastiality, pedophilia, etc. Because they don't see any WRONG. Wrong supposes a MORAL compass, which Athiests DENY their own conscience."

Would you care to provide some statistics? And just how many atheists have you known personally?

"How can an athiest call ANYTHING wrong? How can he say a child rapist is evil?"

Somehow or other, we do manage.

"He can't because Athiesm says there is no evil."

And you learned this from...where? Funny, I've been on a lot of atheist forums, read a lot of articles, blogs, etc., and I've never read such a thing. Oh wait, anything that doesn't include god is evil, right? All those atheists who raise children and try to protect them from predators, who pay their taxes, volunteer for various organizations, contribute to charities are basically evil because they don't accept god, but because they don't believe in evil, they don't really exist. My, what a conundrum we've created here.

Would you care to enlighten us further from your great store of wisdom and knowledge?

I know, they ARE however limited to SPIRITUAL people, and athiests are not SPIRITUAL. Athiests are people who belief there is no creator-force. No spiritual nature to the universe, therefore they have no morals.

They can only be restricted say, by what MORAL society enforces upon them. Societal values, etcetera.

Catana, you are getting caught on a technicality, I used to call myself a "spiritual athiest" until I figured out athiesm means NO creator-force, therefore NO purpose, therefore NO spirituality.

The most commonly applied definition of athiesm as a religion today is the belief in NO GODS. No creator-force.

I'm an agnostic theist. You can call yourself a spiritual AGNOSTIC, but not a spiritual ATHIEST. There is a difference that needs to be expounded here between athiesm and agnosticism, apparently.

Athiesm means a belief in NOTHING beyond this world, therefore NO morality.

Maybe I am wrong but I thought that one of the definitions of an Atheist was a person who does not believe that at least one God exists.

Huh? You mean athiests are polytheistic? What?

Never heard that before. Generally speaking, as a religion, Athiests are people who believe in NO creator. Right?