[Vision2020] Religious Diversity Education

Wed, 25 Jun 2003 02:34:43 -0700

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At 10:16 PM 6/24/2003 -0700, &quot;Luke&quot;
&lt;lukenieuwsma@softhome.net&gt;&nbsp; wrote: 
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; That is not
quite true. If you are a logical and consistent atheist, you 
have no reason to abstain from murder; there is no punishment anyway.
You 
have no reason to abstain from theft; so long as no one catches
you,</blockquote> 
What an interesting view of atheism you have. Perhaps you have heard of
game theory, a way of looking at interactions between people as a type of
game, where you have winners, losers and points. By engaging in the
aforementioned activities, you profit at the expense of the other player.
In a single, short-sighted game, this may be to your advantage. However,
if the game is played over and over, and especially if this game has many
players, then such reprehensible acts will cause you to lose, either
through incarceration or termination by an angry mob. 
There are the interesting ideas of Utilitarian ethics, whereby activities
which benefit society as a whole are encouraged, and those that do not
are discouraged or halted. For simple situations such as murder or theft,
it seems pretty clear that society does not benefit, so one has an
ethical duty to not engage in these acts. 
You may notice that neither of these make any particular mention of a
holy book or commandments handed down from on high, yet I would contend
that these both are solid foundations for leading a moral and beneficial
life for all concerned. Improving the lot of one's fellow man is in one's
own interest due to the net gain for all concerned. Being nice to puppies
and kittens and children naturally follows from these sorts of ideas.
 
The idea that an atheist is also amoral is particularly repugnant, as it
seems to not be borne out by reality. I am curious how many
self-identified atheists are currently in prison, versus the population
with a religious persuasion. If it were indeed the case that atheism
leads to amoral, noxious behavior, shouldn't it be clear from a quick
visit to a jail who was being locked up with regularity? 
Granted, these folks are hardly following the tenets of their professed
faith, but it seems that amoral activities are not the sole domain of
those without a religion. So, making the leap of &quot;atheist equals
murderer, thief, etc.&quot; does not follow. Just as it does not follow
to say that those who do have a religion automatically commit crimes.
Still, when last I checked, we weren't worried about Middle Eastern
Atheist Fundamentalists committing terrorist acts, nor were doctors
worried that their clinics would be blown up by fundamentalist atheists.
It's a curiosity, to be sure. 
 
<x-sigsep></x-sigsep>
David Camden-Britton -=)*(=-&nbsp;
davidcb@acm.org </body>
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