The Moral Atheist

So, I'm an atheist. I'm not a big scary one, meaning that I pretend to KNOW that there's no God. I'm pretty sure there's not, and even if there is I've never spoken to this being and I don't see why I should have to move to his beat. That was glib. What I mean is that this entity known as God, the Judea-christian god, has never directly spoken to me in any meaningful and clear way. There have been times, as in everyone's life, where a believer could interpret what is really random accidents and incidents into a form of communication. However, I was raised Catholic. The god of my tradition's faith is omnipotent, meaning everywhere at all times and in all things, so I'm gonna bet this being could communicate in a stronger way than a rainbow, or a deer on a trail on a morning run. I mean, let's be honest.

So what I don't get is why do people, whom I KNOW could not have interacted with their god in a meaningful and direct way think that putting their "traditional morals" in the path of other people is okay?

An atheist must be more moral than a Christian. That's an obvious fact. A Christian is handed a tailor made set of social codes based on, and backed by, generations of experimentation and communal agreement. An atheist must forever weigh the immediate incident on its own and determine the correct course of action based on that instant's particular wants and needs. A Christian knows that gay marriage is wrong because they have a church, a book and a community telling them. They have a legion of voices behind them bolstering their beliefs. An atheist must logically look at the situation and judge it in the here and now. And an atheist is alone. There is no legion of other atheists, we aren't really joiners. We must use our own set of experiences, and our own finely tuned empathy to understand the struggle of our fellow man to see into the pros and cons of our community when it comes in contrast to the individual.

Going further. We, as atheists, must forever be tuning our empathy to others. This is the only way we can ever make a moral decision. We must forever be thinking of ways to better understand, love and accept our fellow man. We must forever be in debate to weigh their wants against the goals of a community. Whereas a Christian is able to fall back on communal mores as a crutch.

The final point is that the morals of an atheist are more valueable. This is straight logical philosophy. An atheist is in constant struggle with their morals, allowing them to be dynamic and mutable. This struggle creates strength. A Christian is allowed to keep their morals in a static form. Never to be questioned, evolved or improved. A Christian does not earn their morals through a lifetime of experiences but rather they are given their morals from their parents and church. Something given has no value.


Yeah, anorexics are thoughtful people too you know.