You do need a soul though, ginger. LOLOLOLOLOL I KID.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

But as far as society is concerned, why would you care about someone's motives? If someone is being a good person out of faith as opposed to a moral compass, that's still benefitting society. Maybe it's not good news for them, but it's good news in general.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

But without a God, there are no moral absolutes, and therefore, no good or bad people.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I think good and bad can exist without a god. It's a little bit pretentious for you to absolutely claim otherwise ...

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Not really. Because there is no higher power by which you can base your morals upon. It's all relative. As long as Hitler thinks he is doing something good, he's in the right, because you have no right to say your morals are superior to his without a God.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

And he did think he was doing something good.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

With all due respect, that's a load of shit my friend. Morality isn't necessarily a byproduct of a higher power. Atheists can have and live by a strong sense of right and wrong, just as very religious people can have a very questionable morality. As for your Hitler comment, you are correct that if he believed that he was right there is or was absolutely nothing anyone could do or say to make him believe otherwise. But that doesn't change the fact he was a total dick, and a belief in a god isn't needed to know or prove that.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

From where do atheists derive this "strong sense of right and wrong"? Because Hitler probably had the same strong sense. And you have absolutely no right to say that your morality is better than his.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

From good sense and observation of the world, from gut feelings or intuition, from logic, from fucking fables, dude I dunno the list goes on, I'm sure, and I won't presume to speak for everybody but that's my point. YOU don't don't understand how morality can exist without god and that's fine. But say that, don't state it as a fact. And I can say I'm better or more moral than Hitler all I want because it's what I believe. Nobody has to agree with me. I never argued that the idea of right and wrong isn't subjective.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It says in the Bible that you should be murdering non-believers, gays, and just about anyone breaking the rules in the Bible. I'm almost positive that you have never murdered someone so that means you're not getting your morals for the Bible or a higher power. Your morals are based completely independently.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Pretty simple: chances are, if you're hurting people, it's bad and if you're helping people, it's good.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It's all dictated by what the masses percieve to be righteous, there is absolutely no reason for a god to be linked with morality.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I wondered how long this thread would last before Hitler got involved...

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Disagree. I think it's the choices you make that define what type of person you ultimately are. If I were a really shitty person, then turned to religion to make myself a better person, I still made the conscious choice to be a good person, regardless of the reasons why.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Not necessarily. While I'm not a particularly religious person, but I don't see any problem with someone using religion as a motivation to be a good person. Humans aren't born inherently good, and there needs to be some driving factor to push someone to do good. I think it all depends on how the person individually views there actions. Are they doing it solely for the purpose of getting into heaven, or are they doing it because the religion has enlightened them to be a better person? You can't exactly speak for everyone in that situation.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

No, because this implies they do have religion, therefore it helps them to be a decent person, therefore they are.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

So doing something good for someone because you generally care for them is the same as doing it out of fear of going to hell and to get in God's good books when you really don't give a damn about them is the same? I think not. Please excuse my run-on sentence.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

The way the OP worded it made it sound like he thought so.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Why all the anti-religious stuff recently? It's like you're trying really hard to prove something. (If it was right, you wouldn't have to try so hard.)

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Alright, that's just not true. Copernicus tried really hard to prove that the earth wasn't the center of the universe. And I've just been thinking about religion more recently, and when I reach an epiphany in my thoughts, I put it on here.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Point taken, but I still respectfully disagree.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

How is this anti-religion? This is anti indecent persons.

by Anonymous 13 years ago