Morality and ethics are culturally defined. They are also subject to metamorphosis depending upon the changing intrinsic values within the culture that they are embedded.

i guess i don't have an opinion on the post because i don't think this a moral issue. although i think one informs the other regardless of how true the belief. pretty sure religious people are misinformed that you need belief to be moral. maybe you need to believe what they believe to be moral by their standards, but that is the rub. not my standards.

the reason for the response is another question that has gotten me for a long time. "A lot of believers think that atheism is immoral because nonbelievers refuse to accept revelation (thereby committing the sin of "superbia" ), which is tantamount to insulting God."

how? i am amazed constantly by believers being offended by my lack of belief. at least the christian versions. how is it possible to offend an omniscient entity? their definition.

i usually have two responses for them but it doesn't help with why they think it: first, it is not possible as the entity does not exist . second, it is not their god offended but the individual believer. their god knows what i (or anyone really) have thought, currently think, will think, have said, and will say.

if that entity is offended, surely the omnipotent 'it' has the power to act? again their definition. surely it has not instructed the believer to be offended (you'll remember it doesn't exist.) they take that up all on their own. if it has not acted or reacted in any way, how can we consider it offended?

We must grow up and put aside our outdated notions of morality. There is no "divine spark" granting special value to a living mind. No object has any intrinsic value apart from what we choose to grant it. Let us embrace the freedom of certitude, and achieve maximum efficiency in all things!

It is certainly true that religious organizations spend enormous efforts in trying to persuade people to behave in ways that benefit society. That almost seems to be their reason for existence. If the option is between murder, robbery, fraud, etc. on one hand and religion on the other, then I’d vote for religion every time.

I think that the person who has thought deeply and decided to turn away from religion is likely the kind of person with the courage, intelligence and insight to chart her own course. She has graduated from church.

To each his own.

I am an atheist, but I do not consider it immoral to be religious -- merely puzzling.

Choosing to delude oneself with the ‘choice’ to believe in something for which there is no proof or tangible evidence is no ‘choice’ for this Atheist. Nothing ‘moral’ beyond honesty ~

I don’t believe that atheism has anything to do with morality. Morality is inherent in humans ...we know instinctively what is right and what is wrong, and this applies equally to us whether or not we believe in God or the gods. The only difference between being atheist and being religious in the respect of morality, is that the religious tend to the view that their morality is god given, guided by their belief in god, and therefore some may believe that those of us who espouse no religion are without morals. I don’t believe that all believers believe this, they know that we are just as moral as they are, but they believe it is because we follow the Christian example, as it’s the societal norm in western countries. That is where we differ from them, because we believe that it is an inherent human quality, and that is evidenced by those civilisations which existed and produced philosophers who wrote extensively on moral matters long before the Abrahamic religions came to dominate the world.

While many Christians believe that atheists must be immoral, many Christians don't make that assumption, and an even smaller share of atheists believe that Christians are inherently immoral by their very nature. So, no, I don't think you've posed the issue correctly.

For belief or unbelief to be a moral question, it would have to mean that someone is hurt. So if God exists and I don't believe, has my unbelief harmed God or humans or other creatures? And if God doesn't exist and I do believe, has my belief by itself harmed other humans or creatures? Now I admit that belief or unbelief can also motivate bigotry, which is immoral, but those aren't a sole necessary function of mere belief or unbelief.

Yes - to each the 'truth' is so obvious.

Of course, to us atheists, it's not only obvious, but CORRECT...