Atheist/theist behaviour

[Alex K]

Murdering unborn babies? We're just taking our cues from God, nitwit

[Minimalist]

Christian morality is a little bit different because it is based on the delusion of a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior.

Fixed that for you.

[KevinM1]

What is this supposed to mean please? 

Are you saying some theists put value on not doing certain things even if they cause no harm?

All people naturally tend to rationalize small compromises of conscience. For example, if a teller rings up the wrong price for a small item like a pair of socks and not correcting the total. Or taking the unused shampoos or soaps from the hotel room. Or letting one’s gaze linger on some exposed cleavage. If people evaluate their actions according to the most common secular value systems, it is fairly easy to justify such actions: Wal-Mart can absorb the cost of the teller’s mistake; the maids would throw out the soaps anyway, it’s okay to just look, etc. Thus in absence of moral absolutes a person’s character is susceptible to slow corrosion. Eventually, people start to compromise on bigger issues like murdering unborn babies. This kind of corruption is also possible in more abstract theistic moral systems wherein one hopes to gain the mercy and favor of God/gods by having a positive balance in the ledger of good versus bad deeds. Christian morality is a little bit different because it is based on a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior. Such constant communion drives believers to think and act in ways that will bring closer union with the Lord. That is why David said, “Against Thee alone have I sinned.” 

Counter: your need to satisfy the moral demands of an invisible person, lest you spiral down into reprehensible actions, makes you a psychopath.

You seem to think that small, innocuous instances of bad behavior will inevitably lead to larger acts.  That's patently moronic.  I 'stole' some tacos from my university's food court back in the day.  That $3 theft doesn't make me think I should go rob a bank next.  Shit, I didn't even make a habit of it when I was there.  I did it a handful of times when I was running late.  It was wrong, yes.  But no real harm was done.  Moreover, it's not wrong because a deity says its wrong, but because I'm intelligent enough to understand I violated a social/economic contract.  I took something that, while fungible, still wasn't mine to simply take.

And if looking at a girl's breasts is wrong, I don't wanna be right.

[robvalue]

Chad: There are no moral absolutes. It doesn't even make any sense. Not if the definition of morality is actually about wellbeing. If morality is solely about what some undemonstrated being likes and dislikes then this is irrelevant and/or harmful. And even then, it's subjective to that being, so not absolute. If they just "exist" then any correlation between them and wellbeing is coincidental.

Some of the things you describe cause no harm at all, but it seems some theists punish themselves for them anyway. And there's certainly no evidence that theists "behave" better than atheists or that their actions escalate less than atheists.

What I did gain from your answer though is this point: the theist punishes themselves for things that don't hurt anyone, and tries to avoid doing them. As is often the case, these things can be sexual (masturbation for example) and avoiding these behaviours can lead to frustration which ultimately causes problems in itself. So that's a good example of religious thinking messing with behaviour, and certainly not for the positive in my opinion. Denying one's own sexuality must be torture.

[Neo-Scholastic]

Chad: There are no moral absolutes. 

That's what you believe and beliefs often influence behavior, for better or worse. I think failure to recognize a moral foundation beyond one's own whims and habits leads one only toward the worse.

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Chad: There are no moral absolutes. 

That's what you believe and beliefs often influence behavior, for better or worse. I think failure to recognize a moral foundation beyond one's own whims and habits leads one only toward the worse. But it does seem that you and Kevin have confirmed the truth of my initial assessment. The atheist rule is why not if no one's watching and there's not much harm.

[dyresand]

Chad: There are no moral absolutes. 

That's what you believe and beliefs often influence behavior, for better or worse. I think failure to recognize a moral foundation beyond one's own whims and habits leads one only toward the worse.

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That's what you believe and beliefs often influence behavior, for better or worse. I think failure to recognize a moral foundation beyond one's own whims and habits leads one only toward the worse. But it does seem that you and Kevin have confirmed the truth of my initial assessment. The atheist rule is why not if no one's watching and there's not much harm.

Nope wrong again there is no moral absolutes and religion hijacked morality. Morality has always been a thing it is packaged along with our emotions and from many many years of evolution. You just know what is right and wrong even before you learn about such a black and white morality that religion teaches. 

[watchamadoodle]

That's what you believe and beliefs often influence behavior, for better or worse. I think failure to recognize a moral foundation beyond one's own whims and habits leads one only toward the worse. But it does seem that you and Kevin have confirmed the truth of my initial assessment. The atheist rule is why not if no one's watching and there's not much harm.

IMO, we all have standards for ourselves - even when nobody else can hold us accountable to those standards. When I do something wrong, I feel a guilty conscience and ashamed of myself. Our standards are often taught by our parents instead of a religion. I suspect these standards must be taught when we are very young. I suppose some people can learn new standards as adults too.

This is an interesting topic. Now that I am an atheist, I am probably more willing to accept that I can't meet certain standards. Sometimes I must make compromises. Atheism helps me to accept that reality without beating myself up for the limitations of my character and my circumstances.

[robvalue]

Chad: I explained why "moral absolutes" is a nonsense statement and you haven't addressed my argument. My morals are incredibly good, if I say so myself. I have tirelessly worked on them my whole life to be the best damn person I can be. I have no idea what this "no one is watching" crap is meant to mean. Someone is always watching: me. I am my own strictest critic. However, I do not worry about the opinions of unfalsifiable beings. I care about the humans and animals who I have every reason to believe are real. I do my best to maximize their wellbeing as well as mine. I'm far from perfect and this is an ideal which I know I'll not always meet, but I'm happy with how I do.

Moral absolutes are just another example of the black and white, all or nothing thinking of religion. It is useless in a grey world.

[Polaris]

Here is what I have found from examining the behavior of atheists and theists....they behave pretty much the same way.

[*Deidre*]

I was once a Christian, and I can attest to my critical thinking skills were less than after I left Christianity. I didn't throw caution to the wind and place everything in ''god's'' hands, but...there was a feeling of safety...even if it was false, when I followed faith. Also, after I left Christianity, not right away, but even up until recently, after accepting atheism...I still struggled with being 'ok' as an atheist. Indoctrination + imagination = a comfortable delusion. Sadly.