“I get my morality from the same place that I think moral persons of faith get theirs - my personal sense of right and wrong. This encompasses a strong sense of fairness, honesty, and an ethos of minimization of harm.
The bible has some charming moral tales. It also has some truly vile ones. A quick flick through the bible reveals incitements to genocide, infanticide, pederasty, misogyny, slavery, racism, rape, murder, death penalties for trivial crimes, witch-burning and more. (I won't provide references, but there are plenty of websites which do).
Bishop Shelby Spong has a reply for people who say that the bible is a complete source of morality - "Have you read it?"
Presumably some Christians are unaware of these passages. Others pretend that they're not there and skip straight to the sermon on the mount. A third group take even the most vicious passages literally, which is scary and possibly the world's most active source of evil. (I'm happy to level the same accusation against people who take similar incitements in the Koran literally). A fourth group will attempt to explain it away - "God moves in mysterious ways" (which must be the ultimate intellectual cop-out) or attempt contorted and improbable theological explanations.
But, surely, there must be at least a sizeable minority who read such passages and think "That's just evil". Any reasonable person should be viewing acts of slavery and genocide that way. And that's where morality comes in. Real morality doesn't come from obeying the bible slavishly out of fear of a bad outcome in the afterlife - it comes from our own minds.
So, my morality comes from a sense of freedom, fairness, kindness, honesty, and an ethos of minimisation of harm. Some aspects of Christian morality are just fine to me, others are destructive. Many of religion's sexual hang-ups are simply repressive. Any ethos which limits medical research or processes is just evil (think restrictions on stem-cell research. A fair way to think this through is to imagine that you have a daughter with a genetic disease which might become curable). Misleading the public on matters of science is vile also (yes, I mean you, Benedict). Freedom of speech in the public sphere is crucial, so blasphemy is a badge I would wear with pride.
As for meaning of life, that's easy. Atheism is totally life-affirming - what could be more inspirational than knowing that this is it, this is our only chance? So, for me the meaning of life is: aged cabernet, rare steak, fried squid, good chocolate, a cold drink on a hot day, Albert King guitar solos, progressive rock epics, English comedy shows, a high level bridge game, boardgames with friends, water views, peace and quiet, sleeping in on weekends, playing games with small children, spending time with my wife, walking through rainforests, making the world a better place.”
~ Kieran May 5, 2009 4:08 Beliefnet response to article
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2 comments:
I get my morality from a "personal sense of right and wrong."
1. Why the "personal" sense? Can you truly say something is right and wrong if it is only right and wrong to you? What if I "personally" don't think stealing is all that bad - how would an atheist respond?
2. Isn't it interesting that all mankind has A sense of right and wrong? Almost as if mankind is endowed with a sense of right and wrong from birth; which would be unique to "homo-sapiens" wouldn't it? I mean, all cultures view murder as wrong, yet the animal kingdom exists on the basic premise of the survival of the fittest - which necessitates murder! Humans don't agree with that. So, is there something distinct about morality in human beings?
I see no evidence to suggest that there is a standard beyond humans that determines right and wrong. This fact may not be comfortable but it seems to be the case.
Laws are put in place for those that don’t have a problem stealing or otherwise harming others.
Humans have a sense of right and wrong because they evolved to have one as highly interdependent social creatures. It is as much a part of us as is digestion. And I would not think so highly of humans in relationship to animals. Animals generally only kill for food and only kill when hungry. Humans kill for many reasons including for sport or fun. I would suggest you read the book Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. Great book that will change your perspective on some things.
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