Reply #73: I DO believe that I am merely an amalgamation of chemicals... [View All]

...I am an atheist. I do not believe in a god or an afterlife. And yet, I have never raped anyone, never killed, never committed a felony, never spent too much time indulging my senses...shit, I've never even been in a fight. You know why? Because it feels bad to do that stuff. In fact, the thought of doing harm to others makes me queasy. The thought of helping others and improving the condition of life around me, however, makes me feel good, so I try to do my part when I can (time constraints notwithstanding; us atheists DO have jobs, ya know.) You don't need a cosmology to have a conscience.

Take a poll; query the leaders and the movers in the atheist/skeptical community and get some statistics as to the crimes they've committed, the murders they've been a part of, the rapes and molestations they've been on the giving ends of, etc. I think you'll find, by and large, that atheists and agnostics are not out destroying the lives of others; they're law-abiding citizens who simply don't believe in a higher power. Honestly, the implication that just because there's no heavenly punishment awaiting me should I commit some crime means that I'm out pillaging and being a total hedonist all the time pisses me off. Does James Randi look like a rapist to you?

If you didn't believe in a god, you'd be driven to do good works becuase it feels good to enrich the lives of others. I mean, doesn't it? I myself honestly worry about people who only do good works because they're afraid of punishment from some omnipotent invisible entity should they fail to behave in a certain fashion. Is belief in the afterlife the ONLY reason to help the less fortunate? That troubles me, this idea that morals can only be derived from cosmology...what about that feeling of well-being you get after checking in on your older relatives and making sure they have enough food to eat? What about the shitty feeling you get after you cut somebody off in traffic? Those feelings aren't coming from a god, they're coming from your nervous sytem. (and PLEASE do not counter this statement with "Well, who created your nervous system?" I don't believe in god, so don't even go there, pal. It's too late for me to be converted.)

What's keeping me from raping and pillaging and doing whatever the hell I want at any time? The shitty, empty feeling I get even THINKING about that kind of stuff. Do you think about killing someone you don't like, consider it to be an option, but then recoil from the attempt only because the threat of a holy bitchslap from a god?! That's fucked up.

If you don't feel a sense of guilt after doing harm to other living things, I'd be worried. Not because a god might punish you for it, but because you'd be a fuckin' psychopath. Are you seriously implying that without organized religion, we'd all be psychopaths?! I suggest you acquaint yourself with a few more atheists before you make that kind of judgement call.