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The Forum > Article Comments > Atheism: the default ethical position of humanity > Comments

Atheism: the default ethical position of humanity : Comments

By David Nicholls, published 8/7/2008

Popular rumour has it that atheists have cranial horns and sacrifice babies.

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"We are all born atheists..."

What amuses me about this line is that if God(s) do not, in fact, exist, then not only are all people born athiests, they live their lives actually as athiests (albeit with the notion that they actually have religion) and then die as athiests.

It's a funny bit of logic that, and I like it :)
Posted by BN, Tuesday, 8 July 2008 8:56:36 AM
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'Evolution has supplied us with the ability to make ethical decisions but religions can interfere with this natural process and produce mayhem.'
What blind faith! Any thinking person can see that evolution is a myth at best and belief in it produces rotten fruit (abortion, violence, depression)
Posted by runner, Tuesday, 8 July 2008 9:39:00 AM
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Religion is a myth, evolution is a theory, subject to scientific examination. Any theory that fails the test is rejected or modified, unlike religion. As to morality, the god of the Old Testament ordered his followers to commit many atrocities, didn't he? In the enlightened West, at least, the Bible has been subject to continual reinterpretation because of our civilization's changing ethical standards.
Posted by mac, Tuesday, 8 July 2008 10:25:19 AM
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"Any thinking person can see that evolution is a myth at best and belief in it produces rotten fruit (abortion, violence, depression)"

This is a strange assertion. It's hard to see how belief in evolution would produce these "rotten fruit"; and even harder to see how evolution would produce them. For anything to arise by evolution it must increase the fitness of individuals. Parents who abort their children are directly DECREASING their fitness. People who indulge in violence might thereby accumulate resources or mates and could thus increase their fitness, but they also take a major risk of being injured or killed, which would decrease their fitness, and if they end in jail they could very seriously lower their fitness through lost opoportunities to mate. I'd suspect that depressed people might mate less often, and might make less attentive parents, both of which would lower their fitness; I certainly can't see a way for depression to increase fitness.
I know a lot of atheists, and none advocates abortion, violence, or depression. Atheism isn't a creed, and doesn't have associated moral codes; we simply don't believe in the existence of gods.
Posted by Xenithrys, Tuesday, 8 July 2008 10:33:01 AM
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I did a unit at Deakin Uni Vic that was run by one prof from each of Deakin and Melbourne Unis. It was called "Evolution: Religion, Science and the Crisis in Modern Consciousness". The conclusion that these two lecturers came to was literally "no one has committed suicide at the end of our courses to date, but we have to conclude that there is no basis for ethics." For them, atheistic evolution = no meaning and no value and no ethics. Which is completely opposite to what they live every day. It's not people with faith in God who are unwitting atheists, but the other way around: atheists who live every day as if there is meaning and value and right and wrong and ...
Posted by Newhouse, Tuesday, 8 July 2008 10:46:13 AM
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Evolution is no more a myth than the theory of gravity. Moreover, plenty of Christians have no problem with the evolution. It doesn't conflict with their faith. Archbishop Hollingsworth did the foreword to Ian Plimer's book Telling Lies for God, a pro-evolution, anti-creationist work. The same book quotes John Paul II who says there is no contradiction between being a good Christian and regarding evolution as the truth. I think you'll find most Christians consider creationism in same vein as the flat earth theory.

Atheists like myself basically regard Christianity or Islam as useful in explaining the universe as witchcraft, astrology or ufology. We certainly wouldn't sacrifice babies because you'd have to ask "who to?" No point in sacrificing infants unless there's a god out there.
Posted by DavidJS, Tuesday, 8 July 2008 11:18:28 AM
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