I have heard atheists say they can be good without God. My question is how can you define "good" without God? I am referring to the Christian God. Thank you for taking the time to view my question.
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Current time: December 22, 2024, 11:59 am
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Good without God?
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RE: Good without God?
March 30, 2013 at 10:38 am
(This post was last modified: March 30, 2013 at 10:38 am by The Grand Nudger.)
The same way that you've defined good without god. We're both in the same boat.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
In the book of moral psychology, it was said we don't need rigorous definition of something to have a concept of it by one of the essay authors, neither do we need it to justify it. And I agree with that.
 (March 30, 2013 at 10:35 am)Kurious Wrote: I have heard atheists say they can be good without God. My question is how can you define "good" without God? I am referring to the Christian God. Thank you for taking the time to view my question. I subscribe to Kantian theory where he states that an action is only morally good when the other person is the end in themselves and not the means to the end. This seems to explain just about anything we observe in life when we interact with others e.g. when a joke is made about someone and everyone gets a good laugh, but yet sometimes we feel a little bad for that person. They were used as the means (the joke) to the end (making everyone else laugh). Alternatively, Kant also proposed that an action is only good if it can be made a universal principle for everyone to live by. If this principle leads to absurd situations, then it most likely isn't a morally good thing to do e.g. let every one be able to rob banks. Obviously that would be chaotic. But we could say let everyone be able to give up their seat on the train for the elderly, and such a universal principle couldn't possibly be abused to the point that society falls apart. "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it" ~ Aristotle
 RE: Good without God?
March 30, 2013 at 11:59 am
(This post was last modified: March 30, 2013 at 12:09 pm by Simon Moon.)
Actions have consequences. As thinking, empathetic beings, we can evaluate actions in order to determine whether they are good or bad by how the consequences affect the well being of others.
How do you define good with 'God'? Is something good because 'God' commands it? Or does 'God' command that something is good because it is good? You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence. 
CleanShavenJesus
The Man for His Time and Place  Religious Views: Church of the Latter-Day Dude (Dudeism) (March 30, 2013 at 10:35 am)Kurious Wrote: I have heard atheists say they can be good without God. My question is how can you define "good" without God? I am referring to the Christian God. Thank you for taking the time to view my question. How can you be good without Allah? Having some petty book tell you how to live...you are ignoring the words of the one true god, Allah. How can you be good without heeding his words and instead praying to a false god like yours? I think I made my point there. Anyway, to answer your question, "good" actions are measured by their effect on others. Same as "bad". For example, murder is bad. How do I know murder is bad without some ancient fictional story telling me it is? Because nobody wants to die. It's not cool to take someone's only life away. I wouldn't want that done to myself. If you can't know that murdering somebody is bad without religion, then you're a psychopath. ronedee Wrote:Science doesn't have a good explaination for water ![[Image: YAAgdMk.gif]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=i.imgur.com%2FYAAgdMk.gif)  (March 30, 2013 at 10:35 am)Kurious Wrote: I have heard atheists say they can be good without God. My question is how can you define "good" without God? I am referring to the Christian God. Thank you for taking the time to view my question. You're welcome, especially given how many times I must've answered this question. *sighs* There needs to be an FAQ for some of this stuff on here SOMEWHERE. Or an automated response system that uses the most cut-n-dried Ockham's Razor responses... But to answer your question: It's quite easy. I do not add "god" to the motivations of what I do that I and the majority of those in my culture consider good. And therefore, I am good, without god, because I did not attach the unnecessary assumption that I must be good because of god. Ockham's Razor. Good exists well enough without the supposition of god. 
What are you exactly talking about? are saying that without believing in skydaddy you just be raping and killing? Are you saying god is good? If so have you read the bible?
 (March 30, 2013 at 10:35 am)Kurious Wrote: I have heard atheists say they can be good without God. My question is how can you define "good" without God? I am referring to the Christian God. Thank you for taking the time to view my question. Hmm, I don't see a definition of good that includes god. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/good http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/good
"Being positive or desirable in nature; not bad or poor"
I am all of those things. I am positive, desirable, bad, and poor. 
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