I am an atheist, ask me anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I were an atheist and I kill you for your possessions is there any reason I should feel guilty?

Since an atheist doesn't believe in any kind of afterlife, they must live their one and only life the best they can. Now killing someone may or may not bring them guilt, but it could and most likely would significantly impact their one and only life negatively. Being chased down, locked up, and potentially executed would basically be wasting your one life over some possessions. For this reason, most atheist would never kill someone. Where as a believer, and many do, may kill on behave of their God believing it will improve their standing with God.

[Anonymous]

^^ so no. There is no reason for guilt. That's what I thought.

[Anonymous]

An atheist can murder somebody and plead "not guilty" and have it be true!! Pretty neat!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ so no. There is no reason for guilt. That's what I thought.

Exactly, you either feel guilt or you don't. There's no reason, you just do or don't. Having a reason for something doesn't directly correlate to a feeling. There two separate things.

[Anonymous]

I reason leaves are green due to the chlorophyll pigment contained inside them. Hmm, how does that make me feel?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you believe that there are things that are intrinsically right (or wrong) ?

I ask because that's where I get stuck.

For me it is not so much the existence of a god that is crucial for meaning and purpose, rather the existence of some transcendent universal moral code that is not dependent on my whims or feelings (or anyone else's).

In the absence of this transcendent immutable moral code (kind of equivalent to the laws of physics but for morals), I find it hard to have a reference point against which to measure what's good or bad. In such a case, to me, the nihilistic position seems the most logical position, since nothing can now be said to be 'better' or have 'more value' than anything else.

For me, it does not even matter what the code is as long as I can believe in the existence of one true 'reference code' (even one that no human has ever dreamed of). Otherwise I feel like someone trying to measure the lenght of an object with a constantly changing measuring tape.

But then, once you believe in such a thing, you have already violated the 'no belief w/o proof' rule...and you might as well believe in a god that is the 'incarnation' of such moral code.

whatever floats your boat. did you learn all of that^^ in church or did you come up with it on your own?

So there it is why I can't quite be an atheist ...

whatever floats your boat. did you learn all of that^^ in church or did you come up with it on your own?

The fact that I feel the need to for some immutable objective moral code that does not depend on anything or anyone but it is simply the TRUTH is something that I just feel.

As a child, I took for granted that such a thing existed. Growing up I realized that there is no proof that such a thing really does exist, everything and anything can be doubted, including the statement "there is no absolute truth".

However, I don't think anyone can really live a normal and happy life based on such an all-doubting attitude. If someone punches me in the face for no reason, I will feel that is wrong wrong wrong absolutely wrong, no matter how much "philosophy" tells me that really that is not the case.
But rationally, I can't justify that.

To take what OP said as an example, let's say the code is "if it hurts someone is bad, if it makes them happy, good".
Well, Sayz who? Where did you get that from? How do you know that is the real thing? It seems to me that believing that is "the code" is kind of a leap of faith.

So I find my position incoherent if I say I don't believe in God because there is no proof, but I believe that this is the "code" to live by...since I have no proof for that either.

So the TRUTH is something that you "just feel." And you also don't think "anyone can really live a normal and happy life based on such an all-doubting attitude." But that's just your point of view based on your feeling - there's no factual basis behind it and no reason to think it does or should apply to anyone else.

It sounds like just having a feeling works for you. Perhaps you could understand how some people could be different enough to enjoy life without that feeling and that they may not even have an "all doubting attitude" but rather simply be open to doubt in a way that is non-threatening to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I were an atheist and I kill you for your possessions is there any reason I should feel guilty?

Since an atheist doesn't believe in any kind of afterlife, they must live their one and only life the best they can. Now killing someone may or may not bring them guilt, but it could and most likely would significantly impact their one and only life negatively. Being chased down, locked up, and potentially executed would basically be wasting your one life over some possessions. For this reason, most atheist would never kill someone. Where as a believer, and many do, may kill on behave of their God believing it will improve their standing with God.

New Atheist here -- I wouldn't kill because I value life -- everyone's - not just my own -- because I know we're all very lucky to have gotten this one life that we have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:An atheist can murder somebody and plead "not guilty" and have it be true!! Pretty neat!

except "not guilty" doesn't mean "I don't feel guilty" it means "I'm not guilty of the crime."

Please consider that guilt is not only associated with religious guilt. People can feel guilty just knowing that they've done something to hurt another person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ so no. There is no reason for guilt. That's what I thought.

NP here. The previous poster said "may or may not feel guilty." This implies that it is based on their own emotions, and whether they are a sociopath or not. The vast majority of atheists would feel guilty.

[Anonymous]

Atheists have a God. It's themselves.

[Anonymous]

All this focus on claims that atheists have "a religion" or that atheists have a "god" is spurious at best.

An atheist simply does not believe in a supernatural, divine entity.

Aside from that, if you want to call an atheist's philosophy a "religion" feel free. It's not relevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Atheists have a God. It's themselves.

No, but it sure seems that some religious people think they are pretty special because they have a personal relationship with the big guy upstairs.

What could be more egotistical to think the ruler of the universe is a personal friend?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ so no. There is no reason for guilt. That's what I thought.

NP here. The previous poster said "may or may not feel guilty." This implies that it is based on their own emotions, and whether they are a sociopath or not. The vast majority of atheists would feel guilty.

I agree the vast majority would feel guilt.

However, not feeling guilt doesn't necessarily equate to being a sociopath. Much depends on the circumstance of the killing. As an example: a prowler breaks into your house, kills one of your children, is attempting to kill one of your other children, you club the prowler over the head with your Louisville Slugger and kill him. You may or may not feel guilty afterward, but your most likely not a sociopath. There are many other such examples: military killings, no fault auto accidents, self defense, etc.

The point is no person, regardless if they are an Atheist, Agnostic, Christian, Muslim, etc. knows how they will feel after killing someone until they have actually done it. Their moral code may tell them it is wrong, but there may be a higher moral code overriding or justifying it. Thus the "may or may not feel guilty" comment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Atheists have a God. It's themselves.

No, but it sure seems that some religious people think they are pretty special because they have a personal relationship with the big guy upstairs.

What could be more egotistical to think the ruler of the universe is a personal friend?

OYE that was funny!

[Anonymous]

Jesus Christ did not say "admire me".

He said "Follow Me" .