Morality Without Religion

One thing I hear a lot from religious people talking about athiests is that we have no morals. Some, not all, religious people seem to think athiests are untrustworthy, law-breaking baby-killers. We’re the reason the world is corrupt. We’re the murderers, the rapists, the scum of the earth.

I am deeply angered by this because it’s simply not true. There are a lot of crimes committed by religious people. We have the Salem Witchcraft trials, Elizabeth Smarts kidnapping, terrorist attacks. Catholics even have priests that have molested children.

Don’t tell me athiests are the reason this world is corrupt. I’m not saying all athiests are perfect just as all religious people aren’t perfect. Crimes are committed on both sides, nobody’s perfect.

Religious people are given the benefit of the doubt by most, more than likely they’re decent people in the eyes of the world. Atheists though, are treated like they aren’t trustworthy from the start. There are people out there that even believe Athiests shouldn’t be allowed to testify in court. Why? Because they have no reason to tell the truth if they don’t believe in God and therefore won’t be punished for lying after they die. Star Jones even admitted on national television that she wouldn’t let an Athiests babysit her childen. Excuse me?

I don’t believe in God. I don’t believe in an afterlife, nothing. I believe our lives here on earth are the end. That’s it, when we’re gone we’re gone. This tells me that if I’m lucky I have around 90-100 years to spend on this earth. Actually, I’m down to around 70-80 now if I’m lucky. Because I only have a limited amount of time on this earth I want it to be worthwhile. I’m not going to do anything that could cause this time to be wasted, anything that could put me in prison for example. The threat of prison isn’t what keeps me out of trouble though. It’s never occurred to me to commit a crime. I follow rules, I do what’s right. I’m as compassionate as all the Christians I’ve ever met. I care and I don’t need the threat of a God to make me care. I care because I want to. Doing good deeds does nothing more than help the person on the other end of my deed, I don’t need to be rewarded in heaven for that.

It bothers me that a thinking person can even say that just because athiests don’t believe in god they’re immoral. To turn that question around we could ask the religious people of the world the following: “If you found out today that the god you beleive in is not real, what would you do with your life?” How many people would change something for the worse? How many people would rape and pillage? Yeah, that’s what I thought. They’d probably quit going to church but not really change much about their actual behavior. Some might fall into pits of depression because their beliefs were just thrown out the window. People like Star Jones wouldn’t know who to trust anymore! It’s silly to judge people by their religion. Judge people by their actions, if you’re looking for a babysitter judge by the references. I wouldn’t trust a catholic priest with a child any quicker than I’d trust Susie Satanist down the street. It doesn’t matter to me what you call yourself, you prove yourself through your actions. Actions speak MUCH louder than labels.