Are Atheists the only ones with a true sense of morality? Having no promise of reward for kindness?
A friendly debate please.
It is of course possible that an atheist can have a great sense of ethics.
This has to be based on Law however and Law evolved out of religion. Morality painfully evolved out of religions. (see evolution of law).
That important point aside, there is no need for a religious ethic if a person has a very strong legal ethic.
Sociologically this has now become a huge problem as the "cult of the individual" now expects individual ethics which are tailor made to fit each individual often outside the law.
Personal feelings of satisfaction and feeling good about oneself is still a "reward".
Many acts of charity are also a tax deduction! This is also a personal reward.
There are currently many unscrupulous atheists and "religious" people running businesses based on "charities" which give less than 5 cents a dollar to the needy while the businessman keeps the rest!
Once again the Law itself becomes the arbiter when such things occur.
Therefore it is morally wrong to assume a certain group has a monopoly on morality.
I completely agree, however would argue that morality is more of a factor of biology and inheritance so to speak. We learn what is right and wrong from our prior generations, yet have an internal "conscience" i.e. our brains telling is what to feel.
I don't think atheists are the only ones with true sense of morality. I have friends who are religious and they help others not because they would gain something from it or they will be rewarded by God or they fear God will punish them if they do not do the right thing, they do it to have a clear conscience and to show God that they want to obey him, they want to cultivate good habits/qualities because they love him, not because they fear him.
I believe that not all religious people are moral and the same way not all atheists have the true sense of morality.
It actually depends on the person, how they want to lead their life, a life with clear conscience or the one with guilt.
Well said, a lot can be drawn from the ability of self-worth and the process of a "conscience".
Depends on the person. I know some Atheist who have a strong sense of morality. There is some Atheist who use it as an excuse not to care about anyone or anything. Does it make them more moral, because of their beliefs. Depends on the person.... Wether there Atheist or religiouse, if they do good for the sake of the deed.
The tens of millions who died under atheist Communism prove that atheism is not by default moral, and people can readily abandon a religious ideology and invest the same level of devotion and potential use of it for violence into a political one.
That same pattern is being repeated with social justice bullies seeing it as moral and right to literally attack people for disagreeing or merely failing to virtue signal hard enough that they are true believers in authoritarian liberalism.
This Week in Stupid (24/04/2016) - Social Justice is a Cult Edition!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN0oKIMlHyI
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