(May 12, 2011 at 6:14 pm)diffidus Wrote: No - there is no error in the logic. If this life is a transient blip in an otherwise eternal abyss, then why diminish your existence to help anothers existence unless it happens to be something that gives you pleasure. If it is a chore or a duty then you are wasting minutes of your tiny existence.
However, if you believe in a God, you may think that you have to undertake acts out of a sense of duty e.g. missionaries or Nuns etc
Your response was inside the quote
I know where you are coming from. But what you are doing is oversimplifiying an atheists viewpoint.
I agree that people who believe in a religion will say that they have their laws perfectly laid out for them. They have consequences etc.
But to say all people who believe in religion will do as 'you say', and that all atheists will 'think as you think' is wrong. That is one MASSIVE generalisation.
Saying that all atheists who abide by morals do it out of pleasure is wrong.
I do not abide by morals because I enjoy doing so, I abide by morals because I have respect for the value which fellow man places on his/her life.
And this could be the very reason why an atheist decides to do charity work for instance.
