Does atheism allow for good and evil?

[Anubis]

good and evil really have nothing to do with religion.

everyone is born with the sence of what is right and wrong (good/evil). it is within everyone to deceide for themselfs where there line is. we dont need a book or a god or anyone to tell us what it is

 

[waylman]

Originally posted by: BoberFett

Originally posted by: glen

Originally posted by: waylman
society, not god, determines good and evil. Heard of laws?

No, generally only gods can define good and evil.
What civilizations do is really no more than enforced etiquette.

That's pretty much what I think. Society can define what they will and will not allow, but good and evil implies universality. I just don't think it should be possible that atheists believe in good and evil.

There is something fundamentally wrong with this argument b/c I do believe in good and evil and I'm an atheist.

 

[Yax]

From this question: "Can atheists buy insurance against Acts of God?"

Can we say that an act of God is good or evil? And for those arguing that everything has a purpose, blah blah blah, you can't explain God's will, etc. Well, if you can't explain it, then you can't deny that its an evil act?

 

[Electric Amish]

Originally posted by: BoberFett
Come on Red, I know you're more intelligent than to just throw out cliches.

Let's look at cannibal tribes. They believed that eating other humans was OK. Current society frowns on cannibalism. Does that make us good and cannibals evil?

Are good and evil relative or universal?

Relative.

Personally, I see nothing wrong with eating humans.

amish

 

[aethandor13]

To me it is all a matter of perception. What you may see as evil may not be to others. I mean the Venus flytrap could be viewed as evil in a since does it not kill? It all so changes from one society to another. To me it seems to be defined by people. People new what good and evil were long before the bible and gods were speaking to us. It?s a taught behavior you learn it from your parents and society.

 

[0roo0roo]

through reasoning one can come up with theories of what is good. many philosophers have done this. if evil is the complete absense of good, sure why not

atleast philosophers have to come up with ethical theories through reason.


religions find things evil for abitrary reasons. its evil because the magic man told me so!

some point to the lines in the bible that say homosexuality is evil, yet ignore all the absurd things condemned as well in the lines surrounding the text.

 

[Cerb]

The first step in the slippery slope that will turn ATOT into another RFGD...

 

[0roo0roo]

Leviticus 19:19 "do not plant your field with two kinds of seed, do not wear clothing made of two kinds of material"

Leviticus 14:33-57, Cleansing from Mildew: "the priest is to order the house to be emptied before he goes in to examine the mildew, so that nothing in the house will be pronounced unclean" (Lev 14:36).

Read Leviticus 23 to see the detailed regulations concerning demands of animal sacrifices to be carried out according to exact instructions.

Leviticus 18:19 forbids a husband from having sex with his wife during her menstrual period. Leviticus 19:27 demands that "you shall not round off the side-growth of your heads, nor harm the edges of your beard." The next verse forbids "tattoo marks on yourself."

Leviticus 26:14-16 that "If you do not obey me and do not carry out all of these commandments, if instead, you reject my statutes, and if your soul abhors my ordinances so as not to carry out all my commandments ...I, in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you a sudden terror, consumption and fever that shall waste away the eyes and cause the soul to pine away; also, you shall sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies shall eat it up."

 

[Alex]

good and evil are really subjective terms and this probably more of a society and standards issue than a belief and religion one...

i mean in saudi arabia alcohol is illegal and thus considered 'evil', yet in western societies alcohol is regarded in different ways by many people but its generally a positive thing, associated with having fun and relaxing etc. but then again a western alcoholic will swear that its evil...

 

[GasX]

God didn't define good and evil

some backwards and superstious wise old jew made them up a few thousand years ago

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
Leviticus 19:19 "do not plant your field with two kinds of seed, do not wear clothing made of two kinds of material"

Leviticus 14:33-57, Cleansing from Mildew: "the priest is to order the house to be emptied before he goes in to examine the mildew, so that nothing in the house will be pronounced unclean" (Lev 14:36).

Read Leviticus 23 to see the detailed regulations concerning demands of animal sacrifices to be carried out according to exact instructions.

Leviticus 18:19 forbids a husband from having sex with his wife during her menstrual period. Leviticus 19:27 demands that "you shall not round off the side-growth of your heads, nor harm the edges of your beard." The next verse forbids "tattoo marks on yourself."

Leviticus 26:14-16 that "If you do not obey me and do not carry out all of these commandments, if instead, you reject my statutes, and if your soul abhors my ordinances so as not to carry out all my commandments ...I, in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you a sudden terror, consumption and fever that shall waste away the eyes and cause the soul to pine away; also, you shall sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies shall eat it up."

If my enemies were Amazons I'd want them to eat up my seed.

 

[BoberFett]

Originally posted by: Anubis
good and evil really have nothing to do with religion.

everyone is born with the sence of what is right and wrong (good/evil). it is within everyone to deceide for themselfs where there line is. we dont need a book or a god or anyone to tell us what it is

Really? So who's right and who's wrong? You or the cannibals?

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: BoberFett

Originally posted by: Anubis
good and evil really have nothing to do with religion.

everyone is born with the sence of what is right and wrong (good/evil). it is within everyone to deceide for themselfs where there line is. we dont need a book or a god or anyone to tell us what it is

Really? So who's right and who's wrong? You or the cannibals?

Depends on which God(s) and/or religion you believe in.

 

[glen]

Originally posted by: waylman

Originally posted by: BoberFett

Originally posted by: glen

Originally posted by: waylman
society, not god, determines good and evil. Heard of laws?

No, generally only gods can define good and evil.
What civilizations do is really no more than enforced etiquette.

That's pretty much what I think. Society can define what they will and will not allow, but good and evil implies universality. I just don't think it should be possible that atheists believe in good and evil.

There is something fundamentally wrong with this argument b/c I do believe in good and evil and I'm an atheist.

Well, you are inconsistant.
God and Evil require a god.
This does not mean a god exists, but for anyone to be a consistant thinker, they have to reject or accept both.

 

[nater]

*If* our only purpose of being on earth, or our purpose as a species, is to procreate/continue the species, then instinctively good and evil would be acts that would further/preserve mankind, and acts that would be detremintal to mankind, respectively, as amish pointed out.

 

[BoberFett]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: BoberFett

Originally posted by: Anubis
good and evil really have nothing to do with religion.

everyone is born with the sence of what is right and wrong (good/evil). it is within everyone to deceide for themselfs where there line is. we dont need a book or a god or anyone to tell us what it is

Really? So who's right and who's wrong? You or the cannibals?

Depends on which God(s) and/or religion you believe in.

So you agree that good and evil are relative. That's well and good, and my original question isn't aimed at you. It's aimed at those who claim to be atheists, but take a strong stance that there is universal good and evil.

Dropping puppies off a roof is evil. Selling crack to kids is evil. Why?

 

[glen]

Originally posted by: Anubis
good and evil really have nothing to do with religion.

everyone is born with the sence of what is right and wrong (good/evil). it is within everyone to deceide for themselfs where there line is. we dont need a book or a god or anyone to tell us what it is

No.
They have everything to do with religion.
With out a god, there is no "good an and evil," just your personal prefrences.

 

[Ameesh]

Originally posted by: Ferocious
Do atheists believe Hitler was evil?

(I personally do believe in God.....but not in or through any man-made religions.)

do christians believe the crusades were evil?

 

[UglyCasanova]

Originally posted by: nater
*If* our only purpose of being on earth, or our purpose as a species, is to procreate/continue the species, then instinctively good and evil would be acts that would further/preserve mankind, and acts that would be detremintal to mankind, respectively, as amish pointed out.

So what is our purpose on earth? Why does there need to be a purpose?

 

[Ameesh]

Originally posted by: glen

Originally posted by: Anubis
good and evil really have nothing to do with religion.

everyone is born with the sence of what is right and wrong (good/evil). it is within everyone to deceide for themselfs where there line is. we dont need a book or a god or anyone to tell us what it is

No.
They have everything to do with religion.
With out a god, there is no "good an and evil," just your personal prefrences.

good and evil are completely abstract ideas, just because you choose to define them in terms of what your god tells you doesnt mean that i have to do the same. your point of view is vary narrow minded and myopic

 

[nater]

Originally posted by: glen

Originally posted by: Anubis
good and evil really have nothing to do with religion.

everyone is born with the sence of what is right and wrong (good/evil). it is within everyone to deceide for themselfs where there line is. we dont need a book or a god or anyone to tell us what it is

No.
They have everything to do with religion.
With out a god, there is no "good an and evil," just your personal prefrences.

You mean that without a god, there is no written/defined good/evil?

 

[BoberFett]

Originally posted by: nater
*If* our only purpose of being on earth, or our purpose as a species, is to procreate/continue the species, then instinctively good and evil would be acts that would further/preserve mankind, and acts that would be detremintal to mankind, respectively, as amish pointed out.

Purpose? In an atheists mind, there should be no purpose to humankind. For something to have purpose, it must have been created. If it was not created, then it was an accident. How can an accident have a purpose? Purpose implies a plan, which requires a creator.

So there is no purpose to life on this planet, it just happened. So even the continuance of the species isn't a good reason to define something as evil. If humans wipe themselves out, what's the universal consequence? None really. And if the universe doesn't need humans, why is furthering the species important, other than "because our chemical reactions tell us it's important"?

 

[Red Dawn]

In an atheists mind, there should be no purpose to humankind.

Not true. We don't know and we are sure that nobody else does either.

 

[nater]

Originally posted by: UglyCassanova

Originally posted by: nater
*If* our only purpose of being on earth, or our purpose as a species, is to procreate/continue the species, then instinctively good and evil would be acts that would further/preserve mankind, and acts that would be detremintal to mankind, respectively, as amish pointed out.

So what is our purpose on earth? Why does there need to be a purpose?

I propose that *if* statement because if you look at pretty much all of the other species on the planet, that seems to be their end goal. I'm sure someone will correct me on that though.

 

[UglyCasanova]

Originally posted by: nater

Originally posted by: UglyCassanova

Originally posted by: nater
*If* our only purpose of being on earth, or our purpose as a species, is to procreate/continue the species, then instinctively good and evil would be acts that would further/preserve mankind, and acts that would be detremintal to mankind, respectively, as amish pointed out.

So what is our purpose on earth? Why does there need to be a purpose?

I propose that *if* statement because if you look at pretty much all of the other species on the planet, that seems to be their end goal. I'm sure someone will correct me on that though.

I think BoberFett already did.