Can an atheist have morals?

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glo said:
Can I just throw in that I know atheists who feel their moral values are superior to those of 'religious' people. The reason they give is that atheists act morally for no reason other than that they can and want to do so - no divine commands or heavenly promises are involved. Just a human desire to do what's right ...

Just food for thought ... :?

Any comments?

peace.
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I am not sure... in order for anyone to feel at all "morally" speaking they would have to have a conscious that allows them a feeling of right from wrong... and the conscious is an intangible thing we can't see or study sort of like God.... and Atheists devote themselves entirely to science so the conscious would have no room here so to be honest I am preplexed... they can't get away from religion or the unseen but insist that it is all a ridiculous notion....
 
They do not have a set of moral laws from an absolute God by which right and wrong are judged.
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An “absolute god”, is an opinion and not verifable. You can’t even get a simple majority to agree on what “god demands”. So the base of the argument is flawed.
At best, these codified morals are "temporary absolutes."
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And that is the best because societies keep changing. We have problems today that could not have been even dreamed about a hundred years ago let alone over a thousand years ago. So what happens is people use there personal interpretation of the old rules to create new ones. Of course you still have the same old problem. People don’t agree on what god’s laws are and no one can prove there accuracy.
 
Can I just throw in that I know atheists who feel their moral values are superior to those of 'religious' people. The reason they give is that atheists act morally for no reason other than that they can and want to do so - no divine commands or heavenly promises are involved. Just a human desire to do what's right ...
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Are there different levels in being moral? I imagine that you have morals but you cannot say I have superior morals. If two people have morals, one cannot say I have better morals then you. If you people say that they have morals how do you measure morals with a rule?

And that is the best because societies keep changing. We have problems today that could not have been even dreamed about a hundred years ago let alone over a thousand years ago. So what happens is people use there personal interpretation of the old rules to create new ones. Of course you still have the same old problem. People don’t agree on what god’s laws are and no one can prove there accuracy.
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Law of god is there for all to see if one does not follow it does it mean it's wrong.

And that is the best because societies keep changing.
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the morals in a society can still change. At best, these codified morals are "temporary absolutes." This can be a problem as the norms of society shift and the ethics shift with them.
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What can stop some mad man from starting slavery? You don't have a fixed law.
 
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I think we are drifting into 2 different topics.

Can an Atheist have Moral values?

and

What is the source of Moral Values?


On a personal level I believe an Atheist can have Moral Values. But, I believe the source of Moral values is Allah(swt)

Two seperate topics. The topic we are currently discussing is "Can an Aheist have Morals?" The source of the morals is a seperate issue.
 
God's laws are basic and extend themselves into every aspect... sure you didn't have white collar crime 1000, 2000, or 5000 years ago... but it would still go under a general heading to which there is a ruling... I challenge you to come up with soceital complaint that exists today that can't be argued for or against by one of the absolute fundamentals... by the way regardless of what Jesus had that Moses didn't or what mohammed had that Job didn't they all shared the same principle beliefs...
 
Idris said:
Are there different levels in being moral? I imagine that you have morals but you cannot say I have superior morals. If two people have morals, one cannot say I have better morals then you. If you people say that they have morals how do you measure morals with a rule?
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Right on. Not all “Moral Compasses” point in exactly the same direction.
 
wilberhum said:
Order in the court. Here comes the atheists bashing.
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Be fair post the whole quote:

I
am not sure... in order for anyone to feel at all "morally" speaking they would have to have a conscious that allows them a feeling of right from wrong... and the conscious is an intangible thing we can't see or study sort of like God.... and Atheists devote themselves entirely to science so the conscious would have no room here so to be honest I am preplexed... they can't get away from religion or the unseen but insist that it is all a ridiculous notion....
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It seems to be more of a request for clarification
 
wilberhum said:
Well lets see it.
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pick any theology or organized religion and see its tenets... do you want scrolls of cut and pasted documents laid forth before you?

wilberhum said:
That doesn't prove that they didn't start within a society for social reasons..
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what social reasons are those? why would you want to even have it govern your behavior? you want something from the store just steal it....

wilberhum said:
What part of non varifiable did you not understand?
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glad you admit to it.. even if it is in less than cordial terms
 
God's laws are basic and extend themselves into every aspect
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I can produce a long list of other peoples version of "god's laws" that will contridect your version of "god's laws". So what human get's to determine what are "god's laws" that become the base for morality?

Right Woodrow, different topic.
 
wilberhum said:
I can produce a long list of other peoples version of "god's laws" that will contridect your version of "god's laws". So what human get's to determine what are "god's laws" that become the base for morality?
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Go ahead cut and paste those would love to see how other messangers laws are different from mine
 
We are drifting off topic. Reminder the topic is:

Can an atheist have morals?


Not The origin of Morals.

Let us return to topic.
 
wilberhum said:
Do you go to mass every Sunday? Many believe that is one of "god's laws".

This is my last "Off Topic" post.
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that is not a "moral" we have sermon on friday after noon prayer so the fundamental notion of visiting the house of God listening to a lecture exists in organized religion...
 
Atheist do have moral, but all the moral may not be absolute for them. It may shift according to time and place. One other thing, one can't generalise on that all atheist having the same moral. One thing may be more important than the other or they may disagree on certain thing completely. What is important to note that religiouse (e.g. muslim, christian) people and atheist may agree on cerain moral but what they may disagree on is the solution to the problem.

Peace

Skill.
 

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