Does atheism discourage values?

[teak.]

Some of the most barbaric things in recorded human history have happened in the name of religion, not atheism.

No one needs religion to have morals. Even wild animals have a code of ethics.

Apparently this is a long running thread so forgive me for not going back thru 461 postings. The more interesting question for me would be "Does atheism encourage values?". Without organized atheism or any extended history of organized atheism I doubt that atheism has a vehicle for the promotion of values. Obviously religion has had a long history of promoting values thru establishment of schools, hospitals, charities, etc. Even then people somehow want to imply that atheism is the opposite of religion. This is simply not true. There are countless people who believe in God and profess to have no religion, to belong to no church or have any affiliation with any religious body. Atheists are simply those who do not believe in God. The amusing things.....unbeknownst or acknowledged by them......is that God believes in them....:) The divine spark is there whether they like it or not. They would hate this....but I would hazard a guess that many of the great scientific work by atheists was a result of the divine spark.

[revolver]

I think most so called atheist don't believe in a personal god, like a god who lives somewhere in the sky, which to me personally is childish. Now I don't have a belief in a god either, what is called god I see as all there is, the whole cosmos, and we are also that cosmos, so for me its simply not calling it god but the Cosmos, or Consciousness. So yes I can understand why atheist don't have time for religion.

Every atheist I know and have ever known, has been exemplars of kindness, compassion, knowledge and high intellect.

That said, I'm aware that atheism can be trendy among young people who jump on the bandwagon without doing the work to get there. The atheists I know have done more research, more work, more digging into themselves and the world, than any religious/spiritual person I know. They know more about religions and philosophies and traditions than any religious or spiritual person I know.

Being a good person is not dependent on believing in God any more than being a good driver is dependent on the kind of car you drive. Atheism has nothing whatsoever to do with ethics or morals. Just as being religious or spiritual doesn't make you a good person, atheism doesn't make you a bad person.

[Deepsoul]

I was atheist for much of my young life, but as life increases I found I was brought to my knees by it to put it mildly,LIfe I mean. After being saved and comforted by Jesus and God ,I soon rebelled again as my ego thought its self best, I had great values but also great problems. Deep personal inquiry and The Love of God whom I experience in a extremely supernatural way are my saving graces, People often run a mile when they here the name Jesus but if only they knew what is hidden in that name.................Resting butterfly. Praise be to Lord Jesus Christ my Lord and Saviour

Atheism can't discourage or encourage anything because it isn't a real thing but merely a label placed on some people by others who differentiate themselves as theists.

Also values aren't an objective thing either. "values" are judgements placed on ideas. The idea of burning jews in ovens has a value. A positive value to Hitler and a very negative value to most of the world. One of hitler's values was "racial purity" whjch was practiced through the eradication of jews, romani, and "inferior German stock". He used theism to promote his values. So asking if something promotes "values" is pointless. To use a less.dramatic example theists worldwide have "valued" something called "purity" that in practice does massive damage to the female population of this planet by reducing a human to a vessel that is valued based on "use" or lack thereof.

I have no use for any "value". Instead I seek to rid my mind of the judgements that perceive value since these judgements come from my minds projection on reality.

some would divide me away from other humans as an atheist since I don't believe in the traditional cultural construct called god. This division is illusion. "Morals" and "values" are illusion. The reality is that all humans are designed to thrive and without dualistic conditioning we thrive only in stasis which precludes life-harming actions like murder, rape, destruction.

I believe that the constructs of morality and values are equally damaging whether they come from a theist or an atheist.

[ajay00]

Originally Posted by Mazulu

In a country where atheism squeezes out religion, what happens to values? What happens to honor, integrity, virtue, modesty and loyalty when belief in God is discouraged? What about respect for others? What about culture? It seems to me that atheism has destroyed American culture. In a world dominated by atheism, nothing is sacred; not your body, not your values, nothing. Everything is reduced to money, sex and power.

Does theism necessarily guarantee values ! We have examples of Christian, Muslim , Hindu fundamentalism and violence. Osama Bin Laden, the inquisitions, the hegemony of Brahminism, all have sprung from theism as well.

So theism, is not necessarily a foolproof source of values as well.

Perhaps a secular spirituality, which emphasizes universal values and its application, may be the need of the hour.

[Tobi]

The atheists I have known personally, have not been into "God" at all, mainly because they felt that such things and beliefs were unscientific and rooted in superstition.
That was their feeling about it anyway.
Did it affect their moral behaviour towards other humans and all species? No it didn't.
They didn't believe in any form of religion, or 'karma'....they didn't believe in 'spiritual enlightenment' and all the rest of it -so in a way their compassionate deeds, and the morals they upheld, were brutally honest. They did them only because they felt right to their judgement.
I could not fault that. Their Souls will not be found lacking, and by now some of them who have crossed over have probably found out anyway that many of the things they didn't 'believe' in are actually real.

[revolver]

Originally Posted by Tobi

The atheists I have known personally, have not been into "God" at all, mainly because they felt that such things and beliefs were unscientific and rooted in superstition.
That was their feeling about it anyway.
Did it affect their moral behaviour towards other humans and all species? No it didn't.
They didn't believe in any form of religion, or 'karma'....they didn't believe in 'spiritual enlightenment' and all the rest of it -so in a way their compassionate deeds, and the morals they upheld, were brutally honest. They did them only because they felt right to their judgement.
I could not fault that. Their Souls will not be found lacking, and by now some of them who have crossed over have probably found out anyway that many of the things they didn't 'believe' in are actually real.

Yes in a lot of ways, they are more enlightened than those who are trying to be enlightened, by whatever way, they live for today, and not some future heaven which to me is greedy.

[bhoyay7]

if you need a 'god' to encourage values, then we have a real problem.