“How Can You Be Moral?” – Questions You Don’t Need to Ask an Atheist and Our Responses
The first part of this post is a repost of the article, ‘”How Can You Be Moral?’ – Here Are 9 Questions You Don’t Need to Ask an Atheist — And Their Answers,” by Greta Christina / Greta Christina’s Blog October 16, 2018, 4:41 AM GMT
Below this article, please read on to find our responses to these questions and more from Don Chapin.
“Why are atheists so angry?”
Our Responses
While I am FAR FROM being an atheist because of my “Personal Experiences” and “Far Sight,” (referred to in the Healing Earth series), I believe I can identify with their sense of outrage at the intolerance exhibited by such questions. They often come from ‘bible thumpers,’ and, by respectfully putting myself in the shoes of an atheist, I have concocted my own set of responses, below.
~ Don Chapin
1: “How can you be moral without believing in God?”
Morality comes from within and has absolutely nothing to do with a belief in a god or gods.
2: “How do you have any meaning in your life?” Sometimes asked as, “Don’t you feel sad or hopeless?” Or even, “If you don’t believe in God or heaven, why don’t you just kill yourself?”
Life is to be experienced, and, yes, sadness, sometimes feelings of hopelessness do occur, but that is part of life, having nothing to do with ‘meaning in life.’
3: “Doesn’t it take just as much/even more faith to be an atheist as it does to be a believer?”
The answer: No.
4: “Isn’t atheism just a religion?”
The answer: No. Religions have a doctrine of supposed ‘beliefs,’ typically dictated or ‘suggested’ by the religion’s leaders.
5: “What’s the point of atheist groups? How can you have a community and a movement for something you don’t believe in?”
Like-interest groups exist everywhere
6: “Why do you hate God?” Or, “Aren’t you just angry at God?”
“Hate” something that doesn’t exist?
7: “But have you [read the Bible or some other holy book; heard about some supposed miracle; heard my story about my personal religious experience]?”
I’ve paid very little attention to the Bible, primarily because of the contradictions within it (which are demonstrated by the various sects AND by scholarly research). But I HAVE read “holy books” and EXPERIENCED many miracles, some of which I am documenting as “peak experiences” to be presented on these websites. While I haven’t read of YOUR particular religious experience, that is why I’m documenting my own over 50 such experiences…to demonstrate that these “peak experiences” are simply part of being HUMAN.
8: “What if you’re wrong?” Sometimes asked as, “Doesn’t it make logical sense to believe in God? If you believe and you’re wrong, nothing terrible happens, but if you don’t believe and you’re wrong, you could go to Hell!”
‘Logic’ is what leads us to believe there is no god. Hell is a religious invention, which we also reject.
9: “Why are you atheists so angry?”
Not angry, just disappointed in man’s inhumanity to man and disregard of nature.
AND SO ON…… with more questions
The list of questions you shouldn’t ask atheists doesn’t end there. It goes on, at length. I have added my own responses to these additional questions as well.
“How can you believe in nothing?”
‘Nothing?’ A belief in human logic and inventive capabilities is ‘nothing?’
“Doesn’t atheism take the mystery out of life?”
What ‘mystery?’
“Even though you don’t believe, shouldn’t you bring up your children with religion?”
Unlike a religious family, my children are free to form their own beliefs.
“Can you prove there isn’t a god?”
Can you prove there is? The Bible or Quran is often used as “proof” of God, but ALL such “holy books” were written by man… probably channeled to some extent, with their inherent and individual flaws and contradictions, such as between the Old and New testaments of the Bible.
“Did something terrible happen to you to turn you away from religion?”
NO. Religion turned me away from religion… the abuses that are everywhere, the subjugation of religious followers, and intolerance of “others” or “outsiders.”
“Are you just doing this to rebel?”
Against what?
“Are you just doing this so you don’t have to obey God’s rules?”
What god or gods?
“If you’re atheist, why do you celebrate Christmas/ say ‘Bless you’ when people sneeze/ spend money with ‘In God We Trust’ on it/ etc.?”
Simply following human custom.
“Have you sincerely tried to believe?”
I’ve examined various religions and find them conflicting and self-defeating.
“Can’t you see God everywhere around you?”
There IS NO god, which negates the whole question. The (artificial) laws of Newtonian physics and man’s ingenuity account for everything (except in the infinitesimally small where quantum physics – Einstein’s Waterloo – takes over. No matter that quantum physics leads to the communicative characteristics of atoms and time reversibility, which supports various “holy books” concept that there IS NO time.)
“Do you worship Satan?”
‘Satan?’ Another religious construct to scare people?
“Isn’t atheism awfully arrogant?”
Arrogance? What about the arrogance of the “far right’ in any religion? To me, these people are the very definition of arrogance.
“Can you really not conceive of anything bigger than yourself?”
Sure. Someone more intelligent or practiced in a particular discipline.
“Why do you care what other people believe?”
Why? Beliefs are personal, based on experience and logic. Everyone has their own set of beliefs.
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