'Atheists have no morals.' - Comments

Oh, and P.S, to those of you who dislike the article and state valid arguments- more power to you. That just stands to prove that you can listen to something you don't agree with and respond with class. I love that- I adore it when to sides of an argument can have a civil conversation that ends in a learning experience for everyone.

To those of you that are all, "I'm offended. You're such an idiotic douche," or whatever, you aren't helping your cause. You're almost proving a point. Seriously, you're spreading more negativity. Make a point to prove the case that all Christians aren't damning and hateful against non-believers (because, for every Christian that has made me smile on here by making great points while being respectful, there are three or four comments that are just taking up internet space by being obnoxious).

Here we have a very controversial article and I must admit that it pleases me to see something that makes people think. So, in that sense, I applaud you. And, I do agree on several topics.

I attend an acceptance-only academy that focus on global affairs and world languages, and the issue of religion comes up often (in particular Christian values in face of war and other modern events) and I must say that I agree that in places, it appears that the bible justifies (NOTE, I did not say SUPPORTS) violence towards those who go against Christian values.

People are stoned for acting in ways that are not christian-like, which is a pre-modern example of hate crimes that one could say precedes the modern day gay-bashing and others. But, it also must be noted that Jesus refuses to stone an adulteress, and by doing so wrongs the acts of violence against sinners by the rest of humanity. In fact, his words are something along the lines of, "May he who is perfect cast the first stone." So, Jesus does recognize that it is nearly impossible to hold to the ten commandments in their entirety.

And, as far as the war thing goes, I find it difficult to accept that Christians fight in the military and kill. For a religion that teaches love and acceptance, I see it almost sinful to take the life of another soldier. It would appear to me that, for the most part, the only thing that differs between most men on either end of the war is which side they stand on. So, I have great difficulty accepting the fact that a christian can act under orders from another man (most certainly not God) to kill another.

Let me just start off by saying that people are so idiotic and they don't think before speaking.

I, myself, am a Christian...or says my certificate for (a very much forced on me) confirmation. I don't believe in half of the shit in the bible. I wasn't raised Catholic, and I only went to church on Christmas. My aunt raised me not to be a Christian, but to be a proper lady. Being a Christian is simply a title that separates beliefs, not morals.

Frankly, the bible is quite out dated and full of bull shit. It was also translated from Hebrew, so a lot of what's in it is wrong.

I don't believe that what anyone's religion or beliefs have anything to do with the person themselves. We are our own person. I am not just a Christian. I'm a teenage girl with an attitude and a love of writing. I don't see how that man singled out Atheists for not having morals. He, obviously, doesn't have really good morals if he's singling out a group of people by their beliefs.

Okay, I'm done now. You wrote this very well (: I agree with you very much.

I agree with you on several points. I am certainly no expert on the Bible or Christianity itself, but many things you said seem to make perfect sense. I am an athiest myself and I have never had a sudden thought that I should kill someone because I have no faith, list of rules, or promise of a lovely life after death to stop me from doing so.

a very well written article....i am an agnostic person... my mother is christian while my father is athiest... the kind of christian described in this article is more of a hypocrite... while like my mother who is a very christian lady does the things she thinks is right, but not bcause of what the bible told her to do.... so i think this is more of a journal/ rant than an actual article.

I think that you should do more research before writing an article like this.
I'm an atheist, I've never gone to church or read the bible.
Yet I still know that almost half the things that you said in that article were untrue, or a half-truth.

Being religious and believing in God don't necessarily go hand in hand [directed to someone who keeps going on about religious people].

To the author of this article. The last part of this article bothered me a bit. One, the Bible doesn't contradict itself. Two, being Christian doesn't mean we have to live in a bubble and be nice to everyone.

But, I do agree that atheists are NOT without morals. As a Christian I can see that it is wrong to demonise atheists. Morals are and can be separate from religion.

[b]Johnny C.[/b]
Yeah, like several people have said, those are BAD Christians, or people who CLAIM to be Christian without really being so. Those people are just RELIGIOUS. They aren't CHRISTIAN. You may not see a difference but for those of us who know what we're talking about and know the true meaning of Christianity, we KNOW the difference. I'm sorry you know so many rude people, but forreal, don't bash ALL of us. I know PLENTY of people, including MYSELF, who have many CLOSE friends and family they LOVE that aren't Christian. YES, we would prefer they be Christians, but it's for THEY'RE sake. Not because we're psycho freaks who're gonna damn you if you're not. It's because we WANT THEM TO JOIN US IN HEAVEN. Maybe you think Heaven is a joke, but don't be a jerk and be all sarcastic about our beliefs. You don't see me being a douche about Atheism. One of my best friends is an Atheist. We simply respect each other's beliefs. You may know rude Christians, but don't think all of us are like that.

And another thing...
Do you have something against large books?
Because I've seen pocket-sized Bibles before if the size is bothering you.

Hmm? I'm assuming you got your information from biased sources.
Christians aren't required to keep the Sabbath anymore. That's Old Testament stuff. Just like we no longer have to sacrifice animals to gain forgiveness for our sins.
All those ritualistic things ended when Jesus died on the cross.
And by the way, drinking wine isn't a sin. Jesus drank wine...

You kill people, pray for forgiveness, get into heaven Scott-free.

I would say this is biased... But screw it, I love this. :) Other commenters complain, but this is so true. I know a lot of Christians (not any other religious people, actually...) who, even if you're the nicest person on Earth, won't like you if you aren't religious. Which is why I often have to hide the fact that I'm atheist from people lest I want to get rocks thrown at me. -_- It's a world ruled by religion out there.

This is offensive and biased! You said "Christians are told by the so-called moral-filled book that they should kill those who disagree with God’s standards."
Last time I checked one of the TEN COMMANDMENTS said Thou shall not kill! I think you are very rude and uneducated about Christianity and therefor you canNOT speak on our behalf.

I found this very offensive. It also did not follow journalistic guidlines, I have taken journalism as my college major and the biggest rule is not to be biased. Other than that it is wrong to bash Christians. There are good Christians and bad ones and that goes for any religion, race, or gender. I love all people whether they are Atheists, Satanists, Jewish, Buddhist, Islamic, black, white, hispanic, etc. That is one teachings of the bible to love everyone and the bible is not meant to be taken literally, in my opinion, and the Old Testament that most of your info came from most people do not follow that version. Next time try to put out every point of view and not bash people because you don't believe in what they believe.

I could not have said it better myself.

You clearly know nothing about true Christianity and to be frank, you're article really pissed me off. I opened thinking it was going to be an intriguing article about Atheism [even though I am a Christian, I have an open mind to other points of view. Even though I follow the Bible, I like to uderstand people who think differently], but it turned into a bash-session of my God. You stated in your own article [i]"This is a completely false and bigoted view, seen from only one end of the spectrum."[/i] when you referred to people thinking Atheists have no morals. You don't think you're article had just a BIT of false bigotry in it?

[i]Nobody needs the Ten Commandments, or a thick book, which a lot of ‘Christians’ have not even read, to tell them that lying is bad, and that one should not steal, or cheat on one’s partner.[/i]
How in the world would you know what most Christians have or have not read? Yes, there are those who CLAIM to be Christian and are clearly not, and haven't opened the Bible, but those who are real Christians, who truly believe in the Bible and God, DO read their Bible daily to have a closer, more understanding relationship with God. There ARE hypocritical Christians or 'backsliding' Christians. But that is definitely not all Christians or most of them.

[i]The Bible shows us that it is wrong to kill another person, but that statement is then followed by God’s orders to kill those who work on a Sabbath, those who disobey their parents, those who commit adultery and those who participate in homosexual activities. It is almost impossible to find someone who has not committed the aforementioned ‘crimes’ in working at a seven-day store or stealing a sip of their parents’ wine, for instance. Killing most of humanity in the name of a book does not seem like a very moral thing to do.[/i]
I think it's funny that you had to go to godisimaginary.com to find any verses to back up your article. Really? You know those verses are in the OLD Testament. There is a reason there is an old and new Testament. The New Testament came about when Jesus was born and in his teachings, he taught about love and grace and forgiveness and not judging. In fact, he rebukes the Pharisees several times for practicing their 'religion' over following the true Word of God. He rebukes them for getting pissy when he healed on the Sabbath. I encourage you to look up Matthew 12:1-14 so you can see what I'm talking about. The laws you're talking about are old laws that were put in place before Jesus came and paid the price for our sins. And by the way, people in the time when the Old Testament was written really DID follow all those laws. It was the culture back then. However, we live in the New Testament, which says NOTHING about killing people except NOT to for any reason.
Oh, and your little godisimaginary.com? They're a bunch of idiots.

[i]To add onto these facts, over two thirds of the worldwide military is made up of Christians. That is, not to mention, that this marvelous book contradicts itself completely, yet people still choose to follow it.[/i]
I notice, first of all, that your statement says 'worldwide," when you're YahooAnswers question only asked about the U.S. Military. I think you should revise that. Second of all, there is a difference being a murderer and defending your country. MURDER is a sin. But tell me where in the Bible it says you cannot defend yourself, your home, or your family and friends? It doesn't. And in order to do that, the military has to kill. I personally don't like war, but if people are going to attack US, we have no choice.

[i]Yes, there are Atheists who have committed horrible crimes in their lifetimes, but so have Christians. Yet, unlike Atheists, Christians are told by the so-called moral-filled book that they should kill those who disagree with God’s standards. Atheists simply follow the law, and their own instincts, which tell them that to kill anyone is wrong. Atheists don’t need a promise of a wonderful eternal life at the end of this short one to be a respectful person. They just do it because it's right.[/i]
Like I said, there are false Christians. Those people are the ones who commit awful crimes, as well as Christians that, like you have, don't really understand the Bible and what it says. And like I said earlier, no we are not told to kill every sinner on earth. Actually, we are told not to judge them and to do our best to bring them to God and his merciful salvation [though, those people that shove it down your throat take it a little too far. Someone said something below about dudes following them and I am sorry they had to put up with that. Some denominations believe that way and some Christians just don't know when to stop]. And, actually, I had morals before I became a Christian, as did a lot of my Christian friends. People aren't BORN Christians. People can grow up in a Christian family and not be TRUE Christians until they're forty. We DO NOT need the promise of eternal life in order not to kill, because, like you, we already know killing is wrong. We're not ignorant little kids who run to the Bible because we can't learn morals anywhere else. I only became a Christian last year and I had all the morals the common person does before that. Christianity is not just about following God's rules. It's about having a deep, loving relationship with our Creator, our Father, the One who loves us unconditionally simply because we are us. Being a Christian is accepting Jesus as our Savior and accepting God as our Father. But He doesn't push Himself on us. We CHOOSE to accept Him. He gives us free will to ignore Him or hate Him or simply not believe, but Christians choose to accept His love and Fatherhood, for He is the Perfect Father. Yeah, there are morals and things we can't do that we must abide by but the Bible is also for understanding God Himself and what He is and what He wants for us individually. There are also certain things He asks us to do in our life. We don't HAVE to do them, but we do to get closer to Him and understand Him better and to show Him our loyalty and faith. Maybe it's a load of crap to you, but it's real life to us.

[i]This bears the question – are Atheists really the heathens with no sense of morality, or are the Christians? Can Christians even consider themselves Christians until they have blindly followed their god’s words, which would condemn them, not only to prison, but also to contradiction of the same man’s word?

Apparently so.[/i]
Neither are heathens with no morality. There are PEOPLE who are and they are both Atheists and Christians. They are Chinese, American, Spanish, and Black. They are Mormon; they are Jewish. They are Buddhist and they are Muslim. There are good and bad in every religion, race, and culture and that includes Atheism, too. Which you seem to not want to mention very much except one little line. I won't pretend there aren't fake or bad Christians [as I've said there are more than once]. But I stand strong that it's not all Christians.
Yes, we are true Christians and we do follow His Word to the fullest [and I assure you again, He does not want us to kill people] and we will continue to do so. But we do not do it blindly. He guides us every day and He speaks to us every day in many ways. He does not leave us on our own and yes, we will have glorious eternal life at the end, but that is not the whole thing. At least not for me. I follow God and His Word so that I may be WITH HIM. So, I may go to Heaven and spend eternity with my true Father, my Protector, my Shield, my Comfort, my Love.
As I said before, it may be a load of crap to you. But it's not even just a religion to us. It's a way of life. A way to the life with Him we long for.

Next time, before you attack another religion, make sure you truly understand it before you start spouting crap off.

I am the only atheist in a family of devote Christians. So you must understand me when I say... That was the stupid thing I've ever heard. First of all, you must realize that about half of the bible was written by the Vatican and what THEY believed were good morals to live by. Now, the Vatican is sketchy to begin with, but even as an Atheist, I follow guidelines set by the bible.

The general message of the bible for me is this: Live in the way that this guy Jesus showed us to live; with respect for our elders, peers, people that even put us down. Learn from others, live your life in selflessness.

Some followers of the Christian faith DO have the opinion "believe in him and be straight or suffer eternal damnation", but it is only those people that UNCONSCIOUSLY have damned themselves in trying to protect what they believe is right.

I would like to know where the hell it says to kill those who disagree with God? Because as a former United Methodist Christian and a member of a family of UMC's with BOTH of my grandfathers as Pastors (one retired, one still preaching), I have never once heard of this.

This was a very weak stand for, not the entire Atheist community, but for yourself. I suggest you actually pick up a couple of bibles and read them. Each version is different. Learn more about the Vatican's role in writing the bible and learn the messages within them. You must first learn about a religion before you can stand up for what you believe in. Many followers of God make the mistake of judging us and claiming we don't have morals... We must not make the same mistake with them.

In the Christian faith, the only true judge is God. We do not have a God, but we still do not have a right to judge those that do.

Even as a member of the Atheist community, I am truly offended.

I'm an atheist, but was truly startled that you made such broad generalizations about the Christian faith. Yeah, I've run into a lot of hypocritical Christians, but I think that you were being a little bit more than bigot-ish when you said that they all are ok with murder. That's the same attitude that you're trying to dispel. So yeah, I disagree with your article.

Not everything you read is going to please you. This isn't like Wikipedia where you must be unbiased. Everyone's writing styles are different. That's what makes Mibba so unique.

I, being an atheist, agree with the article. But unlike most Christians, some aren't like how they're depicted in this article. Some of my very best friends are Christian and they've learned to accept me for me. Not by what I worship.

Where my morals come from is a question I'm frequently asked and you're completely right. We're taught them as a child. Whether it be the 10 Commandments, 5 Pillars, Seven Laws of Noah, or 613 Mitzvot, we all have 'morals' no matter what we believe in.

"Nobody needs a book to tell them the difference between right and wrong – it is there in the human instincts, and it is there in the teachings of their parents."
Pop open a philosophy book and you'll find that this statement is only true for a fraction of people.

"The Bible shows us that it is wrong to kill another person, but that statement is then followed by God’s orders to kill those who work on a Sabbath, those who disobey their parents, those who commit adultery and those who participate in homosexual activities."
Have you read the New Testament, then? When Jesus debunks all of this and advocates love over all else?

"To add onto these facts, over two thirds of the worldwide military is made up of Christians. That is, not to mention, that this marvelous book contradicts itself completely, yet people still choose to follow it."
Where in the Bible does God tell us NOT to be honorable and fight for our family and our country?

"Yet, unlike Atheists, Christians are told by the so-called moral-filled book that they should kill those who disagree with God’s standards."
No we aren't. God's image tends to evolve over the course of the Bible, the New Testament filled with Jesus (who is God for Christians) ending all those silly beliefs (remember when he stopped the crowds from stoning the adulterer, because he reminded them of their equality in sin?). The Christian belief is one of endless love and compassion, not of killing the infidels.

"Atheists don’t need a promise of a wonderful eternal life at the end of this short one to be a respectful person. They just do it because it's right."
Why do you do things because they're right? If everyone rots in the ground anyway with no memory of any earth or people, who cares? This statement seems like an incomplete thought to me…

I appreciate your article, but I found it uninformed and offensive. I know you don't mean to be hateful, but I think that a lot of people are apt to be hurt by what you say, here, and cheated.

I was having this very conversation with one of those people from Christian groups who roam the streets trying to convert people and 'spread the message of God'. (At least, this guy seemed pretty set on trying to convert me and my friend - we tried to finish the conversation and he followed us all the way down the high street...)

Anyway, his point of view was these natural morals that people have in them to know right and wrong are there because God put them there. It's hard to argue with that, other than saying 'well tough, I don't believe in God.' Everything we'd say to argue our point to him, he'd be like, 'that's because God gave you consciousness; that's because God's told you what's right and wrong.' If that's what he wants to believe, fine, but I believe that people are free to have whatever morals they like and would have appreciated him not shoving his ideas down my throat. That's one of my morals - no opinion pushing. >__>

TL;DR? Very nice article. I agree with you entirely. :]