Atheist Ethics in 500 words

[Dardedar]

ATHEIST ETHICS IN 500 WORDS. John B. Hodges, Dec. 21, 2007.

How can you have any ethics if you don't believe in God?

The question must BE questioned. How can you have any ethics if you
DO believe in a god?

Religious folk misunderstand morality at its roots. Religion teaches
a child's view of ethics, that "being good" means "obeying your
parent". Just as religious faith is believing what you are told, so
religious morality is doing what you are told. Religious morality
consists of obeying the alleged will of God, an invisible "Cosmic
Parent", as reported by your chosen authority. But obedience is not
morality, and morality is not obedience. We can all think of famous
people who did good things while rebelling against authority, and
others who did evil things while obeying authority.

Religious folk may be Good Samaritans or suicide bombers, it depends
entirely on what their chosen authority orders them to do. If a
believer, or a community of same, wishes to make war or keep slaves
or oppress women, all they have to do is persuade themselves that
their god approves. This seems not to be hard, and no god has ever
popped up to tell believers that they were wrong. They do not have a
code of morality except by the convenience of the priesthood. What
they have is a code of obedience, which is not the same thing.

Atheism means looking at ethical questions as an adult among other
adults. Civic morality is a means of maintaining peace and
cooperation among equals, so that all may pursue happiness within the
limits that ethics defines. This civic morality is objective. If you
want to maintain peaceful relations, don't kill, steal, lie, or break
agreements. As Shakespeare wrote: "It needs no ghost, Milord, come
from the grave, to tell us this."

Because we are biological beings evolved by natural selection, most
of us value the health of our families, where "health" is the ABILITY
to survive, and "family" is "all who share your genes, to the extent
that they share your genes." This is also called "inclusive fitness"
by biologists. Essentially all living beings are going to seek this,
because their desires are shaped by natural selection, and inclusive
fitness is what natural selection selects for.

Because humans are social animals, who survive by cooperating in
groups, we have a "natural" standard of ethics: The Good is that
which leads to health, The Right is that which leads to peace. A
"good person" is a desirable neighbor, from the point of view of
people who seek to live in peace and raise families. Most people
understand this intuitively. Understanding the logic of it is better.
"If you want peace, work for justice."

There is a long history of philosophical thinking about ethics.
Morality is not based on authority, but on reason and compassion. If
I had to recommend just one book on ethics, it would be GOOD AND
EVIL: A NEW DIRECTION by Richard Taylor.

I have a longer essay here.

[Barbara Fitzpatrick]

Most of the famous "heresies" were variations on the idea that religion is for those in the early stages of spiritual awareness - sort of the spiritual ABCs - and that, of course, the adult goes on to a personal seeking that does not fit the religious structure (letters don't usually stay in alphabetical order when forming words). Naturally, the proponents of said heresies were killed. (Which isn't biblical - the Bible says 39 lashes with a cart whip and drive them out of town)