Atheism on the Rise

"Chairty" Does that have something to do providing something to sit on? {grin}I don't think the point is about taking credit, but rather wanting to counter mistaken ideas about atheists and overblown self-aggrandizement by Christians as they slander atheists. Not only do they say that atheists are immoral, but they also claim that only believers are charitable, practically saying that their god is the only reason that charity even exists. I know that I've heard that crowing plenty of times.The thing is that performing charity on any scale above the personal level requires some kind of organization. Let's face it, Christians are a helluva lot more organized than atheists are, what with having had nearly 2000 years to build that organization. Plus having a lot more visibility, especially considering that for most of that time being identified as an atheist would be a virtual death sentence so we had to lay low.Now that atheists are starting to come out of the closet and increasing their visibility, we can start to build charitable organizations of our own.

As I've heard reported, what's happening is that it's mainstream Christianity whose numbers are dwindling. Fundamentalist churches are growing in number, as are atheists/agnostic/unchurched. We're becoming more polarized.

We discussed this at great length in the Morality! Thorn in Darwin's side or not? thread, last posted to on 24 Apr 2009. Basically, morality are the rules and attitudes necessary for a society to function and for individuals to fit within that society and to interact successfully (AKA "get along with") other individuals within that society. Over several generations, a simple set of mutual agreements would have been added onto {*} and refined into a more comprehensive code of conduct. At the same time, those who could not abide by rules (as my ex so often put, nobody could ever tell her what to do!, when cause most attempts to dance with her to be like a wrestling match) would be weeded out, so that those who could follow rules would be the ones contributing to the society's gene pool, such that we have in effect bred ourselves to want to learn and follow the rules.So, just as with language, we are wired to learn our society's rules, but we are not wired with one specific set of rules any more than we're wired with one specific language. The specific set of rules, like the specific language we grow up speaking, depends on what's practiced by the group we grow up in.{* Footnote: For example, a co-worker had been a problem teenager and so spent time on a youth ranch. When he arrived, they only had 4 rules, but by the time he left they had 32 rules. Every time he did something stupid, they had to made a rule to keep anyone from doing it again. } A very good question, one which I believe you have not attempted to answer yourself. Do you think that morality is important? Why? What purpose does morality serve? What are the consequences if morality does not exist? If your neighbors have no morality, should that concern you (excluding claims of worrying about their immortal souls)? Many Christian spokesmen routinely express extreme concern about the morality of non-believers. Why, excluding pronouncements about concern for their immortal souls, should the morality of non-believers be any concern? I mean, if your neighbor lacks morality such that he believes that mass murder and theft are fun pastimes, why should that concern you in any way? Nu?My short answer to all those questions to you would be that, yes, we would need to be concerned because we live in the same society. Their conduct and misconduct affects me just as my conduct and misconduct affects them. Morality is crucially important.Morality exists because human societies exist. It is part of human nature to form into social groups and to try to conform to the norms of those groups, which includes learning and abiding by those groups' codes of conduct, AKA morality.This is why we cannot find any human society that does not have morality. No gods are needed to explain it. And if certain gods end up not existing, that does not in any way invalidate the existence of morality.So I am worried by that popular Christian doctrine that morality cannot exist without God (AKA JHWH) and that if God were to not exist then we would be free to do anything we want. That worries me because it's a booby trap that will spring and destroy a believer when he ceases to believe. Or pretends to cease to believe (yes, I have encountered "atheists" who were only pretending to disbelieve so that they could give vent to their adolescent hormones; one creationist activist even admits that was his motivation). Because that doctrine will lead the new disbeliever to make the tragic bone-headed mistake of abandoning morality. Sorry, Charlie, but, even though you may no longer believe that God exists, morality most assuredly does still exist. Morality is still vitally important, with or without the gods. Well, of course it's a Pharisee teaching. Given by Rabbi Hillel circa 20BCE, half a century before the traditional time of Jesus' ministry.More basically, it's an expression of empathy, which itself can arguably be considered the emotional basis for much moral reasoning.PS
Reply started before AdminModulous' warning.By all means, ICANT, take this over to the Morality! Thorn in Darwin's side or not? topic.Edited by dwise1, : PS