A major misconception of atheism is that it lacks a reason to be moral-no reason for people to be good and nice rather than just doing whatever they want. In reality almost the opposite is true. I argue that atheism gives more reason and responsibility to be good people and that religion actually promotes evil.
One may make the argument that without a higher power to judge and punish a person’s action then there is no reason to be moral. In Christianity for example, if you sin then you go to hell. However, there is still the possibility to ask for forgiveness and believe in Jesus and, then you are off the hook. I think the issue is obvious here-a person can still do as much evil to his fellow man as he wants and be unpunished. A person can go on thinking that it doesn’t matter what they do, they will always go to heaven. This is obviously a contradiction of morality.
Another issue with a higher power and morality is the “everything happens for a reason” mentality. An omnipotent god has power over everything and by that has a plan for the future. (In my first article “A Dose of Common Sense” I go into that a little more clearly near the end of the article and explain why this has to be true for an omnipotent god, so if you disagree, go there.) Someone who thinks like this can use this as an excuse for the wrong things they do. For example, Jim gets angry with Tom and He kills Tom. Jim can say in his defense that god planned for Tom to die at that very moment and that He was just doing what was fated to happen. Luckily our justice system doesn’t allow this kind of thinking and neither should anyone else. This is just an excuse for their horrible deed, and another contradiction to the argument that religion leads to morality.
I know this next section has been touched on before so I’ll keep it short. There are obvious examples in religious texts and history of immoral behavior. I know people will say that the examples in the text are just isolated incidents and that the book must be read as a whole to get the point. I disagree with that, but that’s another topic to write about, eh? It can also be argued in the defense of religion that past evil exploits done under the flag of religion were done by people that didn’t believe properly, either by not understanding their religion correctly or by believing the wrong religion completely. However, this does not affect my point. Just that the act had religious origins and/or encouragement in the mind of the individual is enough to show the contrary role religion has with morality.
Atheism, on the other hand, does not have to deal with any of these problems. There is no god to judge in the end-only other people. There is more responsibility to be moral to your fellow man if that is who is judging you in finality rather than being moral for your own purposes (like getting into heaven). Also because this life and the people around you are it, there is a greater responsibility and pressure to be good. (That’s about a full page of rambling crap in my first try at this essay put down into 4 sentences. I’m still not happy with it.) Anyways, to the next thing, there’s no fate if there’s no higher power so no excuses about things happening for a reason can be made. And lastly, there are no religious texts to encourage wrongdoing and, as far as I know, no one committing any heinous crimes in the name of atheism in history so no problems there.
Personally, it’s all about responsibility. There is only this life and the people around me so I only have pressure to be moral for this time and those people. I don’t have to worry about a master being punishing me for working on Sunday or letting someone believe a different religion. I can’t be misguided by some ambiguous text written a million years ago or by people who say I’m sinning because I don’t believe in their teapot. There is only my sense of justice and honor and what is right to lead me. I treat people like I want to be treated-it’s fair, there’s no arguing that. There’s no room for “treat people like you want to be treated…unless they’re Jewish or gay or democrat or Eskimo or whatever”. Atheism leaves no reason (or excuse) for wickedness whereas religion ironically leaves those openings for hate and sin.