Why do you continue to be good?
I am constantly finding that when i get to know someone enough to tell them I’m an atheist that almost always the topic will come up.
Why do you continue to be good even though there is no reward?
My answer is that even though there is no reward I continue to be good due to mainly empathy but also the fact that when I did believe I never acted as I did because of heaven.
Whats your answer, why do you continue to be polite, obey the law, do your work, ect.?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Nelson on -
i don't at all grant your premise. there's no reward without heaven? of course there's a reward!
i do good because it's in my self interest to do so! the reward is the respect and love of those around me. the reward is a good social standing in society. the reward is also the cooperation of others in the pursuit of goals, that cooperation allowing me to more quickly and easily attain those goals which is in turn another reward!
people that don't do good have very little to none of this.
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Permalink Reply by Benn McNulty on -
If you know you will never see someone you despise ever again then what stops you from giving him the finger and wishing him a shitty life? There is no punishment for that is there?
Also what stops you from being rude to those you only just meet and show that they are jackasses?
Sometimes you get the opportunity to be immoral with no consequences, how do you justify morality in these situations?
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Permalink Reply by Nelson on
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because my moral impulses evolved in an environment where i would absolutely see that person again. just because i live in a society that has changed much faster than human evolution doesn't mean that those evolved impulses aren't still active.
it's the same thing with our sex drives and our fight or flight response. those things evolved in an environment where they were critical to our survival and to the success of our biological imperative to pass on our genetic material. just because we no longer require a powerful sex drive or a fight or flight response doesn't mean that it up and disappears.
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Permalink Reply by Dave G on -
Yeah, what Nelson said.
(It's been too long since I last used that line. :D )
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Permalink Reply by Kristen Powell on -
Would you like it done to you?
Also, who hasn't heard the story of the person who flipped off somebody while driving and then walked into an interview to see that's who would have hired them? There's no reason to run around being a putz.
Also, when you're a jerk to people, it usually means that you think everyone else is out to get you, and that is not a mentally healthy way to be. Self-aware people realize what is in their own best interest.
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Permalink Reply by Wesley on -
This question always amazes me.... I usually fire back at the questioner... 'Are you telling me that if you found out there was no God or Heaven that you would immediately go on a killing, raping and stealing spree?'
Is the hope of Heavenly reward or fear of Eternal punishment all thats keeping you from being a monster?
If that's the case I seriously don't want my kids going over to your house. What if you lose faith while they are over there?
Its just a completely wrong premise like Nelson says. There are many things that keep us good that have nothing to do with a particular religious interpretation of rewards and punishments.
WE are GOOD in spite of religious interpretations right this moment. Even religious people don't stone people anymore (for the most part) even though religious writings tell them to do so. We ignore them without a second thought.
I like Dawkins explanation of the Changing Moral Zeitgeist. It is actually man who has made religion more polite, has 'civilized' the laws, made them more humane, etc..
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Permalink Reply by Benn McNulty on
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I love this community, in the first few responses we have answers involving sociology, morality, evolutionisim, psychology AND quotes to back them.
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Permalink Reply by Benn McNulty on
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Life's been buisy and kinda got out of touch.
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