If people believe that they will get their fairshare in the afterlife, then there really is no incentive to better themselves is there? And it isn't impossible to justify good behavior across the board, the problem comes when they see the rich playing zoot suit gangsters and taking more from people who have less. If you're poor, and you see Oprah robbing a bank, you're like well shit, if they can be criminals I might as well be. It's the only way to get ahead. People stick to this notion of an American dream, people want easy money and a good life without sacrificing first. Truth is the average American makes 500 a week. Why work for that when you can make 10,000 a week selling crack? But these are societal problems that exist in spite of 80% of American's believing in god. I don't see anarchy without religion, suicides and depression rates may rise drastically, but if we humans are to ever do anything truly extraordinary, this will be a necessary step in civilization.
"In our youth, we lacked the maturity, the decency to create gods better than ourselves so that we might have something to aspire to. Instead we are left with a host of deities who were violent, narcissistic, vengeful bullies who reflected our own values. Our gods could have been anything we could imagine, and all we were capable of manifesting were gods who shared the worst of our natures."-Me
"Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation; all of which may be guides to an outward moral virtue, even if religion vanished; but religious superstition dismounts all these and erects an absolute monarchy in the minds of men." – Francis Bacon
"Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation; all of which may be guides to an outward moral virtue, even if religion vanished; but religious superstition dismounts all these and erects an absolute monarchy in the minds of men." – Francis Bacon
