What of Morals?

Religious leaders do much to vilify ex-believers. Laypeople then go on to repeat the same charges, and these appeals spread throughout the population. The main charge against atheists concerns morality. Because people believe that their own morals come from "how they were raised" or a written set of principles or the inherent goodness of a "soul," ex-christian atheists, in renouncing their indoctrination, the Bible's commands, and the existence of the soul, are instantly suspect.

So Christians will ask: where do you get your morals from?

I asked myself the same thing as the Bible became just another book for me. I also stopped believing that any 'Spirit' existed which would have any effect on my decisions. It wasn't until much later that I accepted metaphysical naturalism, a universe without a spiritual realm, that I had no soul. So my conscience became my guide. And it seemed to be more right on its own, without consultation to the Bible or to prayer. But what it needed more of was information; education is absolutely necessary for moral development.

As a social species, we are obsessed with others' thoughts, words, and actions. Socially strategic information is vital to individual survival and status. So it's completely natural that Christians inquire of atheists re their morality. It's just that when atheists answer these queries, they fail to cite cosmic forces or drama, and so the explanations seem a little too simple and unimpressive. Being good, to me, is quite unimpressive. Most people are good most of the time. It's natural to cooperate in most scenarios, barring excessive costs to oneself, though we sometimes even give our lives for others. Christians do good all the time without divine intervention. And so do we atheists.

So, as an atheist, I

 1) am not compelled to tie moral decisions in with the Christian narrative of good v. evil, and

2) have no special obsession with my own "salvation" or with "God's will for my life."

The welfare of others is now my primary moral concern; no longer do I waste time or effort on souls and their destinations. I can also no longer make easy rationalizations concerning my inaction over injustice. It's far too easy to be lazy in the face of injustice, poverty, etc. and to say to yourself that "it's in the Lord's hands" or that God will serve the ultimate justice. This was exactly what I did as a Christian. There are a few Christians who do good work for the disadvantaged (especially those who invoke the "prefential option for the poor"), but I was not one of them. I was basically a fundamentalist, but I was also a political conservative.

Metaphysics doesn't make a person 'bad' or 'good'. I'd much rather associate with a Christian leftist who cares about the rights and feelings of gays, minorities, and people overseas than I would an atheist libertarian who is obsessed with the individual right to gain all he can.

Can atheists promise to rid the world of evils (abject poverty, murder, rape, molestation, abuse, neglect, etc.)? We cannot, but we can deal with what causes these evils in a more rational, realistic manner. We do not bother praying evil away; we do something about it. The humanist tradition comes to the fore here. As there is no divine entity to beseech, we recognize that our species is responsible for itself, and as we are the most invasive actors on the planet, we are responsible for Earth as well.

Very few have read Mill, fewer still Kant, yet all people grasp the importance of consequence and universality to what we humans call morality. There is no perfect, morally-pure person. We can try, and we laud those who do and shun those who don't. But that is the extent of it; we must acknowledge there is no perfect justice waiting for us. And without that presumed, ultimate justice---this is very important to understanding we atheists---we take on as much moral responsibility as we have knowledge of.
I am a secular humanist, the most morally confident I have ever been. I acknowledge that humans are here on our own, and because of our expansion across the globe, we are now responsible for our home planet. We are interdependent with all life on the globe because we are related to it all. We should do what we can to reduce human and animal suffering, and to promote flourishing without excess. We should never resign to complacency. We have the power and knowledge to build a more nurturing world. Life doesn't have to be nasty, brutish, and short. Life can be good.
Further reading:
"The Moral Instinct" - Steven Pinker

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