Being Good Without God -- by William Bell

What does a believer think of when they describe their own beliefs about god?  The most obvious answers are God represents love, at least in the Judeo-Christian belief system.  Many believers think that without the loving benevolent father and the eternal hell fire alternative they would be eating babies, raping, and pillaging.

This is based on the assumption that God created humans basically in a state of immorality and without divine discouragement (threat of hell) humans would not sustain any form of culture and human society would fall apart.           

            

But this is in fact not true, and in my view if we are in a truly moral society then someone is being altruistic they are doing it out of the goodness of their heart not because they are afraid of punishment.  It could not even be considered altruism because it is meant to contribute to reaching a selfish cause (going to heaven not hell).

However this makes sense based on evolutionary predictions.  We are selfish animals and we have a deep instinct to survive, therefore once affected by a meme such as a religious belief, like the good-bad afterlife complex we will do whatever we can to make it so we survive that afterlife in good condition.

A Teachable Moment -- By Shannon B

Something slightly different today: this is a post from Shannon, who has recently started homeschooling her children, and has been thinking about secular morality and considering values for a life lived without God. 

Since coming out as an atheist, I’ve only had a few people ask (and not always directly) how I determine what is moral without a higher power guiding me.

Easily… and without the guilt.

I grew up in a somewhat religious family. Though, out of the three siblings, only one of us (Eldest Male, duh) was baptized as a baby…you know, for good luck with carrying on the family name. If my parents truly did  believe, then that’s like a big middle finger to the other two of us – still carrying around our original sin. Pffffft!

Thinking Rationally – The Euthyphro Dilemma -- By Rohit A

During any discussion that I have with people about God and religion, the one point that every believer makes is about morality. The claim is that religion and fear of God make people do good things. This of course implies that without the idea of someone omniscient looking over us, we would collapse into anarchy and as long as religion stops up from being morally bankrupt, religion is good.

The fact that you do good things out of fear of eternal damnation (or reincarnation, depending on what version of the story you prefer) rather than because they are based on sound logic tells us a lot about religion. The same believers say that because the masses, especially in a country like India, cannot think critically and make decisions for themselves and so they need religion to give them direction to do the right things. This points to the very heart of the problem. The religious would rather have us believing something without any rational thought process than encourage independent inquiry.