Atheists do not define morality. No one defines my morality for me. As far as I am concerned morality is a social construct with an evolutionary basis. Those humans who behaved immorally were removed from the clans, tribes, communities or nations and we continue removing them today. What’s left are people who are concerned with moral behavior to propagate the species.
My personal moral behavior is based as much on avoiding negative consequences as it is insuring a positive quality of life for myself. I am not interested in things that interfere with my ability to enjoy my life. I get along best with people who have similar attitudes. Life to me is a journey and my motto is, “Enjoy the Journey.” If I am not enjoying my journey, it’s time for a change.
Enjoy has a special meaning. Enjoy does not mean “always happy.” Enjoyment can mean hard work and striving for a desired goal. It can result in success or failure. In either case, ‘enjoy’ means I will pat myself on the back for giving it my best effort, or I will try again. Enjoy means accepting the highs and the lows as a part of being a human being and for me, it means joining other human beings in their highs and lows. (Not physically or financially, but emotionally and cognitively) Enjoy is to understand another person’s “Life World.” (Reference Edmund Husser )
Understanding and being understood is where I am happiest. With all that said, lets not play the moral dilemma game, no system of morality is exempt from moral dilemmas.
What I am exempt from are moral dictates that tell me to hate homosexuals, kill witches, admit that I am a sinner and born into this world worthless. I am exempt from needing to be saved from this imaginary condition imposed upon me by the religious beliefs of the Christians.
There is no morality based on “The Christian or Muslim Religions.” There is no morality based on the Jewish religion either but for different reasons. I will assume we are referencing the Christian faith which is exactly the same as the Islamic faith and move on from here.
There is no morality in Christianity or Islam. What you have in these religions are moral dictates and the promise that if you follow the dictates you will receive a reward in the after life. You are commanded by God to be obedient and follow his will. “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” In Christianity, use your free will to follow the commandments of god and accept Jesus Christ as your savior or BURN IN HELL, In Islam, surrender to the will of God or BURN IN HELL. In both religions, become a Christian or a Muslim or BURN IN HELL. (GO TO HELL - EXPERIENCE TOTAL ANHIALATION AND NEVER GET TO HEAVEN, some faiths do vary,)
Here is the issue. How many of your friends are your friends because you have promised them cake and ice cream for being your friends? If they treat you well, morally, do not hit you, steal from you, and are generally polite to you, you buy them cake and ice cream. But if they are not moral to you, treat you badly, threaten you, or say bad things about you, you punish them. How many of your friends do you treat this way? Even the friends that are acting moral are doing so under threat of torture or hope of reward. It is not possible to have morality develop in such a system. I am good and moral because god is watching all I do. He is keeping score. I want to get my cake and ice cream in the after life. If I do something bad I must beg his forgiveness, not make amends to the people I have harmed. Where is morality in this system?
How many of your friends are your friends because if they are not your friends, if they do not treat you morally and with respect, you are going to beat the shit out of them and torture them for eternity? NONE? That’s because even Christians and Muslims pick and choose verses from their holy texts and then change the interpretations to make them more palatable to our modern world. They, the Christians and the Muslims, do not get their morality from their holy texts, Not unless they are out of their fucking minds. They merely assert they are using the texts as a foundation for morality but anyone reading these horrific texts can clearly see, this is not the case. Butchering people who are different from you is not a system of moral behavior. It’s stupidity.
Eternal punishment for finite crimes. The rapist, murderer, and child molester who make a death bed confession and accept Jesus into their heart are saved and go to heaven with everyone else… Where is the morality in this system?
How do you base morality on religion? It is not possible to do so. Look at the murdering butcher that is the God thing in these books. The threatening, insulting, piece of shit theists assert is loving. YOU CAN’T BE FUCKING SEERIOUS. READ THE FUCKING BOOKS! Christians and Muslims get their morality from one of the weirdest places imaginable and I can not for the life of me figure out which one is worse.