A moral society is a happy and safe society. Atheists want to be happy so atheists want to be moral. Obviously loss of morality, whether in the social or financial world, leads to undesirable results and therefore serves as an example. The problem is that morality is as easily bought off as it is adopted. Only those that have inner strength of consciousness can stand firm against the temptations of immorality. I don't think anyone needs any theistic or secular reason to be moral aside from the positive end result of a moral society.
On Apr 3, 4:30 am, frantheman <[email protected]> wrote: > In Dostoevsty’s novel, “Crime and Punishment”, Raskolnikov commits > murder with the justification, “If God doesn’t exist, then anything is > permissible.” Dostoevsky, who advocated a slavophile Christianity, > uses the novel to argue that rationalist atheism leads to nihilism and > chaos and that a belief in a redeeming God is the only solid basis for > human life. > > The theistic argument for an ultimate basis for morality is, of > course, easy; morality is divinely deemed, proscribed, part of the > template of existence. It gives answers to the question, “why be > moral?” on different levels; because God has ordained it, because it > is a God-created part of human nature, because God will punish you if > you aren’t and reward you if you are. > > Where can atheists find an answer to the question; why be moral? More > practically, perhaps, if we accept secular models for organising > society (and this is the basis of western societies), where do we find > arguments in favour of behaving morally? In the wake of the financial > collapse, many commentators have identified a lack of moral > sensibility on the part of those managing and playing the markets as > one of the underlying problems leading to the collapse. Is the basis > of law and regulation merely deterrent; the fear of the consequences > of being caught? > > Francis --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Minds-Eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
