First, there is no moral law: the universe is a nasty, heartless place where most things wouldn't mind killing you if you let them. No one is compelled to be nice; you or anyone could go on a murder spree, and all that is stopping you is your self-interest (it is very destructive to your personal bliss to knock down your social support system) and the self-interest of others, who would try to stop you. There is nothing 'out there' that imposes morality on you, other than local, temporary conditions, a lot of social enculturation, and probably a bit of genetic hardwiring that you've inherited from ancestors who lived under similar conditions.
I got this from Mike Felker's blog and had to comment. I disagree with Myers, but like Mike observed at least Myers is consistent and is honest about where is atheism leads. The scary part to me is that this doesn't bother Myer, or at least it doesn't seem to. People like Hitchens and Dan Barker are unwilling to accept that Myers is accurately describing the conclusion their worldview inevitably leads.
THE APOLOGETIC FRONT: The words of a very consistent Atheist
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ReplyDeleteHe did not say that this lack of moral law is a consequence of atheism. It is a fact - period. Quote mining or quoting out of context, while typical for you and your ilk, it is in no way, a path to the truth.
ReplyDeleteMorality is a construct of man, built from eons of close community cooperation, extended family propagation and expansion. We are but the survivors of many failed attempts at civilization.
Religions have hijacked many human aspects for their misdeeds, morality is just another infringement upon those evolutionary traits that humans have worked and died for and an unabashed superstition garnered for their own ends. For example, the subjugation of the ignorant and manipulation of the masses to support evil tyrants by proclaiming the necessity of force is justified by their gods's absolute morality. Atheism puts that morality back into the natural context from which it originated. There is no morality in religion, just fear, ignorance, thought control and lies.
Good people do good things, bad people do bad things, but to get really good people to do really bad things - takes religion.
Thomas Jefferson once wrote,
"The tax which will be paid for the purpose of education is not more than the thousandth part of what will be paid to kings, priests and nobles who will rise up among us if we leave the people in ignorance."
Religiosity is a direct result of a lack of education i.e. ignorance, this was even known in Aristotle's time, but superstition was quite handy in managing the slave class.
Um...there are no...strictly speaking...good people. Everyone does bad things. Everyone is ignorant as to what "good" is without an objective standard. Atheism has no objective standard - this is true ignorance.
ReplyDeleteI agree that he did not say lack of morality is a consequence of atheism. What he said was that there was no morality and no way to really know what it is.
If you were right then all religious people would be uneducated and you are most definitely wrong on that point. What else are you wrong about? Educated people can be immoral and vice versa. You seem confused.