What IS good, and how do we determine it?

[Catholic_Lady]

... Something else to add - if morality comes from trying to do what is best for society so that our species survives, what will it mean when/if overpopulation of humans becomes a major problem? ...

I don't think that morality is a question of what is best for society so that our species survives.  But if it were, it would mean that you Catholics should stop breeding like rabbits because overpopulation is a serious problem.  It is YOUR morality that is a problem.  Atheism is not a source for such immorality.

You might want to look back at what I stated earlier that you previously seemed to like.

It may also be worth mentioning that atheism is not a doctrine, it is the lack of a belief in a god (or, for strong atheism, it is the belief that there is no god).  There is no universal agreement among atheists about morality, and I certainly would not endorse the idea that morality must further the survival of the species (which must, in any case, be a futile thing, as humanity will eventually perish regardless of what anyone does).

Now, it may be that evolution gave rise to empathy, but it does not follow from that that empathy has a specific goal.

If god is added to the equation, it changes nothing as far as morality is concerned.  People who believe that morality is merely following what god says are grossly mistaken.

Hi Pyrrho.

I have read a couple of posts here claiming that morality is based on what is good for society so that our species can survive. So what I was saying was, how will this change if overpopulation ever becomes a big problem? If morality is based on our need to survive as a species, and the need to survive becomes more about being sure we have enough resources in a world with way too many humans, does that mean that we would no longer have a moral obligation to be sure others didn't get killed, etc?

I know none of this applies to you at all, since you never said this was what morality is based on, and you wrote a well thoguht about post about morality earlier. I just wanted to make sure you understood where I was coming from when I made that statement.

I also wanted to address one thing regarding you statement above, and something one of those pictures said. In your statement above, you said "atheism is not a doctrine, it is the lack of a belief in a god."

I agree with you there. All atheism means is that you don't believe in God. That's it. So then why does that last picture say "learn more about atheism?" If atheism is just "I don't believe in God", then what is there to learn?

It does seem sometimes, ironically enough, that some atheists will treat their non-belief in God as a religion. Obviously, there is no God involved so it's not really a religion, but sometimes it just seems like it gets treated that way by atheists themselves. And what I mean by "like a religion" is that sometimes it seems like atheism is a "group" of people with the same set of philosophical ideals who like to talk about how wrong everyone else is and about how they hold the right answer. And while that's ok, it just seems strange to me because all atheism is supposed to be is just a disbelief in God, and yet it seems like more than that sometimes.

And I'm really sorry if that last paragraph came out sounding rude. I do not mean to be rude or condecending at all. It's just that this has been my observation and I wanted to share it with you here and see what your thoughts are.