Are Athiests evil?

Thomas_S_Hunterson

CDfm wrote: »

But society at that time operated like that.

Moral relativism if a faith of absolutes?

Funny that.

RiverWilde

I feel that atheists are misguided, not evil. Similarly they would feel that my belief in God is misguided.

Riv

CDfm

Dave! wrote: »

Oh well then, sure it's grand

gee thanks Dave! the smiley smacks of emotivism

CDfm

Sean_K wrote: »

Moral relativism if a faith of absolutes?

Funny that.

who said faith is full of absolutes.

it isnt - you have situations where ethical conciderations have to be taken into account.

thou shalt not kill - well if a nutcase is bearing down on you with an ax you have a duty to protect yourself even if the consequence of killing the ax guy results in his death.ethically you have a duty to yourself.

however thats not the same as going out and killing ax -owners everytime they chop wood.

if you want to call that moral relativism thats fine with me. ethical issues arise that have to be dealt with.thats reality.

Dave!

It's actually "thou shalt not murder"

CerebralCortex

CDfm wrote: »

who said faith is full of absolutes.

it isnt - you have situations where ethical conciderations have to be taken into account.

thou shalt not kill - well if a nutcase is bearing down on you with an ax you have a duty to protect yourself even if the consequence of killing the ax guy results in his death.ethically you have a duty to yourself.

however thats not the same as going out and killing ax -owners everytime they chop wood.

if you want to call that moral relativism thats fine with me. ethical issues arise that have to be dealt with.thats reality.

Yes of course.

CDfm

Dave! wrote: »

It's actually "thou shalt not murder"

In catholicism its thou shalt not kill

CDfm

CerebralCortex wrote: »

Yes of course.

so of course atheists can face similar dilemmas

not only atheists but you religous belief is relative too - we have posted on christians but there are others

most of the replies have been from members of established churches - but you have - the anti-clerical ,anti-church or organised religions and a whole host of other believers .

so i imagine atheists have great diversity of beliefs

goldenbrown

google with phrase
kirche kuche wiki

'be as innocent as the dove - be as wise as the serpent....' gospels,

'when you are near me me you are near God' priest at Ballinteer RC church at the group babtism of my middle son, in the past 5 years

the message of the Gospels are unspeakably important in everyday life, therefore they need to be liberated by an ongoing clear separation of all churchs and the Irish Secular state, the consititutional position of organised religion in the U.S.A. is the best example we have


and finally re: the OP some athiests are more practically Christian than some apparant Christians witness for example the race hatred stirrings of Republican candidate Ms. Palin

'be as innocent as the dove - be as wise as the serpent....' gospels,

CDfm

goldenbrown wrote: »

some athiests are more practically Christian than some apparant Christians witness for example the race hatred stirrings of Republican candidate Ms. Palin

I agree.

But sure competition is the lifeblood of trade

Zombrex

CDfm wrote: »

who said faith is full of absolutes.

he didn't say faith is full of absolute (though it often is), he said "in a faith of absolutes"

The point being that God doesn't change his mind. If something is immoral now it was immoral back then and vice versa.

CiDeRmAn

As my dad used to say, "I know plenty of Catholics, but not too many Christians"

Zombrex

CDfm wrote: »

But society at that time operated like that.

Clearly it did, and God condoned it. But then God, in my mind, is not good (assuming he exists), so that isn't surprising.

CDfm wrote: »

I feel the argument is leading down the path but atheists kill more than christians and its a number game- rather than is an atheist by definition evil. The answer to that is - in my book no.

Atheists don't claim to have had the source of all morality and goodness telling them that it was ok for their ancestors to go out and commit genocide. Jews and Christians do.

CDfm wrote: »

That things might be done in the name of God -as in the German example given-traditionally God is quoted and is on everyones side. God doesnt get a vote when he is invoked.

Are you saying that the Old Testament is wrong, that God is being misrepresented?

CDfm

Wicknight wrote: »

Atheists don't claim to have had the source of all morality

Thats way off topic - so Im not going there. This is about if atheists are evil.

But atheists reject all supernatural entities -so they would not by definition believe in Satan.

Wasnt their a test in Sodom and Gomorroh we can apply to this.

Find one good atheist and that should answer the question.

Twinksno1flan

I'm a catholic athiest, The other ones are much worse.

robindch

CDfm wrote: »

Find one good atheist

Ready and waiting. What would you like to know?

CDfm

well Robin are you evil?

robindch

CDfm wrote: »

well Robin are you evil?

No, are you?

Climate Expert

I'm an atheist and I'm fairly immoral in lots of ways. Since there is no absolute moral code or adjudicator then it doesn't really matter. If you say somebody is evil and they say they're not then who is right?

Zombrex

CDfm wrote: »

Thats way off topic - so Im not going there. This is about if atheists are evil.

Hey, you asked me to explain the "slavery relevance"

Slavery is simply used as an example of the problems with claiming God is either a) good or b) the source of morality.

The excuse that man was primitive in terms of morality and taking slaves was the norm back then doesn't explaining why God would still condone and encourage this.

In fact it is quite the opposite, it suggests (to me at least) that these people were not in fact getting morality from a deity but rather projecting their primitive morality onto the deity, using the imaginary deity simply as a way to claim authority.

And as humanity's moral systems evolved we later did the same thing except with a different conclusion, we figured that slavery was wrong so God must also agree, and must have always agreed.

CDfm wrote: »

But atheists reject all supernatural entities -so they would not by definition believe in Satan.

Exactly, atheists don't claim a supernatural source of their morality. It isn't an issue for atheists, we know that morality comes from humanity rather than believing it comes from some where else.

AtomicHorror

Climate Expert wrote: »

I'm an atheist and I'm fairly immoral in lots of ways. Since there is no absolute moral code or adjudicator then it doesn't really matter. If you say somebody is evil and they say they're not then who is right?

The majority. That's society. It's always worked that way, we just anthropomorphised the Authority as a means of maintaining a stable morality.

CDfm

robindch wrote: »

No, are you?

No - so using the S & G test we have just proved that atheists are not evil.

AtomicHorror

CDfm wrote: »

No - so using the S & G test we have just proved that atheists are not evil.

But I'm evil.

Zombrex

Climate Expert wrote: »

I'm an atheist and I'm fairly immoral in lots of ways. Since there is no absolute moral code or adjudicator then it doesn't really matter. If you say somebody is evil and they say they're not then who is right?

You are, since without universal morality they only have to be evil based on your criteria.

If you do something that I judge to be immoral then to me you are immoral. I am "right" because it is my standard in the first place.

Climate Expert

Wicknight wrote: »

You are, since without universal morality they only have to be evil based on your criteria.

If you do something that I judge to be immoral then to me you are immoral. I am "right" because it is my standard in the first place.

Thats how I work it as well. I would largely ignore any kind of consensus as that has shown itself to be fairly wrong in the past.

PDN

Climate Expert wrote: »

Thats how I work it as well. I would largely ignore any kind of consensus as that has shown itself to be fairly wrong in the past.

If all morality is relative then what standard are you using to judge the consensus of the past as 'wrong'?

CDfm

Climate Expert wrote: »

I'm an atheist and I'm fairly immoral in lots of ways. Since there is no absolute moral code or adjudicator then it doesn't really matter. If you say somebody is evil and they say they're not then who is right?

Judgement is a God thing. Its not for man to judge you - only under the laws of man. The "unto Ceasar" passages in the Bible.

In fact - the NT says " judge not lest ye be judged" on spiritual matters.

So any atheists spiritual beliefs should not concern me.

But I can say a guy is an all around good guy based on his behavior.

Zombrex

PDN wrote: »

If all morality is relative then what standard are you using to judge the consensus of the past as 'wrong'?

His own I would imagine ... if morality is relative what other standard is there?

CDfm

AtomicHorror wrote: »

But I'm evil.

You say it. So I have to accept it.

Climate Expert

PDN wrote: »

If all morality is relative then what standard are you using to judge the consensus of the past as 'wrong'?

Consensus : The Earth is flat = WRONG

The moral consensus of the past does not agree with the moral consensus of today or other with other societies, therefore a consensus is meaningless as a moral guide.