Archive for the ‘Morality’ Category
Morality, Hell, and rambling
I received this message via e-mail: God uses Hell in the same way. If it was not for Hell, then there would be no punishment for many sins and people would try to get away with everything. Can you tell me why an atheist would be moral, other than accidentally or just feeling like it, [...]
In: About atheism, Morality
Am I starting a religion
From the IAmAnAtheist.com feedback form: How can you proclaim to be an atheistic website and yet you post this Atheistic Rights & Responsibilities? Your setting up a code to which atheists “need to follow”, doesn’t that mean you’re attempting to make atheism into its own organized religion? Religion is not restricted to the organized worship [...]
What’s the point of Hell?
The below conversation began as a message to the IAmAnAtheist.com feedback form. After that, the correspondent (“Guest”) appeared to be replying from a smartphone, so her responses are perhaps more terse than they might be otherwise. Guest: Parents discipline children with time-out, spanking, whatever so that they will learn to be have. God uses Hell [...]
The Black List: A Parable
An unemployed biology professor heard that there was a position available at ACME University. He sent in a resume, but it was rejected. Hoping to get a second chance, he arranged to meet with the Dean and the following conversation took place. Professor: Thank you, Dean, for agreeing to see me. Dean: Certainly! What can [...]
No angry flame deities (with fire)
From the IAmAnAtheist feedback form: Thank you for an enjoyable site. I particularly like the atheist rights and responsibilities page. I think being moral means living by the ten commandments or equivalently the items on you list for exactly the reason you say: Because you believe that is simply how everyone should live and not [...]
Hate mail
From the IAmAnAtheist.com feedback form: What? Is Atheism a religion now? ’Rights and Responsibilties’? Wow. This is what makes me embarrassed to say I am an atheist. The people who turn it into a religion. Ass. Well, people have rights and responsibilities, atheists are people, therefore atheists have rights and responsibilities. How, exactly, does this [...]
In: Hate mail, Morality
Who decides morals
From the IAmAnAtheist.com feedback form: I dont like you rules, or your morales. Who says those morales are really right anyway? I want to lie because I can get further. I can help people feel better about themselves If Iie to them, infact I could also save lives. I think we chould kill. The world [...]
More weird justice
From the IAmAnAtheist.com comment form: In a post you said ‘If God allows one to pay for one’s sins by allowing someone else to suffer punishment, that — to me — is a weird kind of justice.’ But this makes perfect just sense! If you committed a crime and your father offered to go to [...]
Misrepresenting Christians
I received a couple of comments from people who think that I am misrepresenting Christians when I say that some Christians argue that morality is universal. In response, I’d like to quote from When Skeptics Ask: A Handbook on Christian Evidences by Ronald Brooks and Norman Geisler: Now some might say that this moral law [...]
Moral sense and stealing
The following is a recreation from memory of a conversation I had with a Christian about morality. I would be interested to hear your opinion of it. Christian: The human moral sense is evidence that God exists. If there is no God, then were do we get our moral sense? Me: People don’t agree about [...]
In: Discussion, Morality
