Question(s) for Atheists & Evolutionists?

These answers are comically abusive, but I think the crux of your question is if we are free to decide what is right, how are we to decide what is right? I think that is a very important question. So far, it seems that only time, the actual progression (temporal evolution) of our society controls this. This includes the present interpretation of religious laws that have come to us from the past, and from each terrorist attack to civil rights movement, the answer is "wait and see." I agree this is less than satisfactory.

One of the answers pointed out that we do now live in such a society, where the wealthy have their way. As everyone's answers illustrate, we are so full of self-importance, I think the main reason there aren't more murders and other crimes is simply the inconvenience for most people. "So what, then I have to leave my job and the state to escape the police? . . . I'd rather just not kill my husband." So perhaps it comes full circle, and selfishness becomes its own source of morality.

Firstly, just because there is no religon does NOT mean that there are no morals. I am an athiest, I have great morals. I have never done drugs, smoked, or drank. And besides, that isn't even really a cristian ideal. People should not do things out of fear of punishment. A person should have good morals because that is how they were raised, or they know that is the way to be happy, NOT because they want to please someone else.

For your next issue, you say "Survival of the fittest (fastest, strongest, smartest - etc.)" You don't seem to realize that this is basically how the U.S.A. works. It is really not at all about toughness with the human race. It is about intelligence and innovation. If everyone thought this way, then intelligent people would succeed, stupid people would die out. People with the brightest ideas would succeed, others who could not do anything would not. I absolutely think the world would be a better place like this. Everybody would be of worth in a society, and if they were not of worth, they would die.

That does not mean there would be no moral standards. As individuals, humans are incapable of thinking completely in the viewpoint of survival of the fittest, because we DO have morals, sympathy, and empathy. This is what, ultimately, will cause human beings to fail. We are so greatly overpopulated because of this, we could not let the weak and dumb die because we felt sorry for them. We try to cure diseases because of sympathy, and we give homeless people money for the same reasons. Evolution has created something not so great. It has done so before, and these not so great things eventually go extinct. Like we will, but we might take the rest of the world with us. That doesn't mean I don't like being a human, but the things you describe are what makes human beings bad for the world.

Do you really want a society where there is no moral standard?

-First, what the ****? Second, being Atheist doesn't

stop society from having moral standards.

What if you lived in such a world where as long as someone has the money/resources to do it, they can do anything they want - Pollute the air, water, food. Push 'legal' drugs (Cigarettes,Alcohol,Diet Pills, Deadly Prescriptions) all for profit,without thought for the consequences (No Moral Standard) and they get away with it?

-That already happens, your not making any valid argument here.Science refines itself, that's why pollution emissions are fading and pills aren't always suggested for biological conditions.

Do you really want a society based on the concept of evolution?

-the universe is based on the concept of evolution, all life

is subject to the universal principle/theory of evolution.

what if this was the way EVERYONE in the world thought?

-Ever heard of diversity? that includes thinking. No two

animals think alike, even if they are the same species.

1st off.. yes the bible is known for some morals.. but morals also come from

a government

b culture

c society

d passed down (parents)

e common sense

f philosophy

So let me turn this around for you .. so you can see how stupid you sound. sooo .. In a way .. you are saying that without your bible.. you wouldn't know (through all the things listed above) the difference between right and wrong. So .. basically.. the only thing that stands between you doing bad/illegal things .. is your bible. Now doesn't that sound stupid ? ok then.. its the same thing u are saying about us but turned around

2nd "What if you lived in such a world where as long as someone has the money / resources to do it" etc etc ..

Open your eyes .. people do get away with these things .. some are not caught.

3rd.. I dont know how many countless people who claim to be religious are HIGHLY immoral. watch the news once in a while would ya..

4th .. Survival to the fittest.. (natural selection) is not exactly part of evolution

and 5th.. you are an idiot and highly offensive

I'm an atheist and I believe WE are the higher power. Listen to your conscience and heart to do the right thing!

I care about the earth because it's the only one we've got and the only one my children will have.

If everyone had thought this way, imagine how many wars would have been avoided! Barriers broken, dividers torn down! People shouldn't need a god to scare them into doing the right thing. If that IS the reason they do, however, then they're doing it for the wrong reason.

& on the topic of evolution. I don't think anyone truly likes the idea of survival of the fittest, but that doesn't mean it's false to believe in it. When a species has run out of resources or can no longer maintain population in a location, it WILL become extinct. And there isn't much your almighty god can do about it.

Just as a closing statement: I go to an Ivy League college, graduated with honors and have two beautiful children, because i wanted to. Catholic priests throughout the US took advantage of children because they wanted to. Religion is beautiful because they mainly want one thing: peace, happiness, etc. But it's up to you to follow, whether you believe or not. Christians believe in free will don't they? God forgives all? How about doing what is just for the sake of it and stop putting down others who don't agree that there is some dead guy sitting in the sky, watching us all the time.

>>For atheists: Do you really want a society where there is

>>no moral standard?

You make the ignorant assumption that belief in a deity is necessary for ethics. It's not. If belief in an invisible Big Brother figure is the ONLY thing keeping you from committing crimes, then you're demented. History has also shown that theocracies are hardly happy places to live in.

What should we base our ethics on? The Bible? Please, that book supports slavery, cruelty to women, and number of other wicked atrocities. And if you're saying that there are "good" parts to pick out from the "bad" parts, then you're admitting that your sense of ethics comes from outside of the Bible.

>>For Evolutionists: Do you really want a society based on the

>>concept of evolution?

>>Survival of the fittest (fastest, strongest, smartest - etc.)

Biological evolution is not the same as social Darwinism. The former is a science first developed by Charles Darwin, the latter is a philosophy developed by Herbert Spencer (which Darwin himself didn't subscribe to). The two have nothing to do with each other. If you actually took the time to read up on evolution, you'd know that. Claiming that learning about evolution leads to social Darwinism is like saying learning about the periodic table leads to chemical warfare.

Haha I like how all theists think we have no moral standards. I may not be perfect but I can tell you i have better morals than millions of theists do (as in throughout history). Why do you assume we have no morals? Do you think we go out at night and murder old grannies? Just cause no one says you have to be nice doesn't mean you should go out and stir up s***.

And your survival of the fittest thing. That was when we were in the wild. There is hardly any of that going on (at least in developed countries) because most people do survive and find a partner. Survival of the fittest only applies when a species has to struggle to survive. We are by far the most pampered species on the planet (excluding some dogs/cats) it DOES possibly apply in places like Africa, I know that many people there have sickle cell there which is potentially life threatening but it has a better defense to malaria. Survival of the fittest would dictate that since people with sickle cell have a better chance of surviving malaria, and the chance of dying from sickle cell is far lass than malaria, a majority of the population would have this disease even though it IS potentially deadly.

And how would it be much worse? Again you think that all atheists want the world to die... we don't, YOU guys are the ones who say "pollution can't be caused by humans cause only god has the power to do that" and you think sometime soon the world is going to end and you're all going to heaven. WE are the ones who know this is the only earth we got and we gotta make it count.

And what you don't think any Christians own any big evil corporations? The mafia is christian aren't they? How are those people any better than me? becuase they believe there is a man in the sky watching everything we do and he'll send us to the middle of the earth if were bad? What makes you think that god would care about us anyway? To him were probably just a bunch of atoms or information. Just cause a really old book says something doesn't mean it's true.

"Do you really want a society where there is no moral standard?"

Of course not!

So let me try to understand this. If you didn't have belief that some God was watching over you, and you faced no consequences after your death, you would simply run around killing, raping, stealing and being a generally nasty person just because?

I would hope not!

Christianity even teaches that you can do ALL those nasty things, and as long as you repent your sins and accept Christ, you can still enter Heaven! So conceivably, Heaven could be full of murders and rapists.

And there certainly ARE consequences for those kinds of actions built into our very secular societies. In order to live together without chaos, we decided on laws, and consequences if someone breaks those laws.

And I'll go further than that.

I know I don't like getting hit in the head. It HURTS.

So why would I hit someone else in the head, when I know it will hurt them too? It's this emotion MOST of us have called empathy.

I treat others in the manor I wish to be treated.

And I do all that, without the promise of a reward, or the threat of damnation. I do it because I want to be a good person.

I would hope that would be enough for most people.

Edit:

Well you seem to make the assumption that morals arise from religion. They don't. Again, they arose as a way for humans to live together in larger groups with out chaos ensuing.

And honestly, look at other species of animals that live in groups. They aren't killing each other off. Sure, there may be an accidental death every so often between two males that get in a fight over mates or territory, but by enlarge, social animals work together for the betterment of the group.

There are some that think religion itself is an act of evolution. When we started leaving our small nomadic tribal bans in favor of larger settlements, we needed something to bind us together, since we were no longer only in the company of kin. First by having a leader, then by developing belief systems, that bound us together in to cultures.

Now that we have bigger societies, we don't have as much need for such bonds. We have found others, and we have more sophisticated societies with laws and such that bond us together.

So many have begun to shed the need for belief. But most of us still have the drive to be good to one another, because we want others to be good to us. It mutually beneficial behavior.

>> What if you lived in such a world where as long as someone has the money / resources to do it, they can do anything they want - Pollute the air, water, food. Push 'legal' drugs (Cigarettes, Alcohol, Diet Pills, Deadly Prescriptions) all for profit, without thought for the consequences (No Moral Standard) and they get away with it? - No legal recourse because there is no moral standard to judge them with.

Are you honestly saying we don't already live in that world? BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

>> Already there are many street gangs around the country (and the world) who's way of thinking / belief is: If you can't defend what you have, you don't deserve to have it. ( This even includes your life)

Okay, serious answer this tie: Humans are social animals. we evolved to help each other. It's one of our ingrained survival traits. It's also present in every other primate.

Research shows that the reason humans struggle with emotion to find equitable solutions is pinpointed the region of the brain called the insular cortex, or insula, which is also the seat of emotional reactions.

The fact that the brain has such a robust response to unfairness shows that sensing unfairness is a basic evolved capacity.

The emotional response to unfairness pushes people from extreme inequity and drives them to be fair. This observation shows our basic impulse to be fair isn't a complicated thing that we learn.

It therefore fully illustrates that all humans have morals controlled by the brain and that Christians are entirely wrong to try and claim morals as their own!!!!

But Christians found a way round it!!

Government statistics show that christians are vastly over represented in prisons for sexual, violent and fraudulent crime!!

The Catholic church is paying millions in compensation for the sex/pedophile crimes of their priests alone!!

Christians are vastly over represented in the divorce courts!!

Christians invented the concept of sin and then the idea that you could sin, ask forgiveness, get pardoned and start with a clean sheet!!

So no surprise that they are so expert at it is it?!!!

Whether you are christian or not does not matter you fell into the trap of using their claim that there are no morals without a god!!

Where are the morals when all the so called morals claimed for christianity were stolen from much earlier societies and even the ten commandments were stolen from other religions and related to other gods and an idol?!!!