John Steele wrote on Feb 26, 1996:
>Where does Morality come from? Can Atheists be moral
Presuming that you really meant "Ethics" when you said Morality, my =
response is: The shortest (thus the best) definition of Ethics I've ever =
come up with is this: "Ethics is the sum of all rules of behaviour of =
individuals living in a society".
The first Ethics (i.e. rules of behavior) therefore was born when =
human-beings formed the first society. The first written rules are those =
of Hammurabi's who ruled in Mesopotamia somewhere during the third =
millenium B.C. who basically said: 1. Don't Kill 2) Don't Steal 3) Obey =
your parents 4)Get along with your neighbour 4) Don't seduce your =
neighbour's wife, etc. (What does those remind you of ?? RIGHT ! The ten =
Commandments. That's why somebody (Asimov??) once said that if Moses =
didn't steal from Hammurabi then God did - well, there were no =
Copyrights those days so I guess it was legal). Anyway, if you really =
think about it, Hammurabi's rules, (Ten Commandments ) are the BASIC, =
minimum rules of behavior individuals must obey in order for the society =
to survive. Therefore those who do not obey are punished in varying =
degrees, from Capital Punishment to Your-Neighbours-not-talking-to-you =
(Finding you "Unethical"). This said, what follows is that EVERY society =
has its own ethics. Members of that society - in order to be Ethical - =
have to obey the rules.=20
We Atheists living in a society dominated by Judeo-Christian ethics do =
obey the basic laws. We don't kill , steal or seduce our neighbour's =
wife but not because we're AFRAID that God will punish us, but because =
its the right thing to do. Atheist Ethics therefore is the true, sincere =
ethics. We are MORAL (if you prefer that term) not because we're scared =
we'll burn in Hell, but because we're decent. We respect ourselves . We =
have dignity. We're in peace with ourselves and our environment (natural =
and social).=20
I'm sorry if that was too long. Thanks for bearing with me.=20
----------
From: John Steele[SMTP:john_steele@fsti.com]
Sent: Monday, February 26, 1996 2:21 PM
To: Atheism
Subject: virus: Morality
Where doesn morality come from? Can atheists be moral?
John
----------------------------------------------------------------------
John Steele Foresight Technology, Inc.
john_steele@fsti.com http://www.fsti.com/
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