I have heard many Christians imply or state outright that Atheists and Agnostics do not have a moral foundation. Their assumption is that if you don't believe in God, you will follow your own self and your own self will automatically lead one on some crazy road to immorality and unethical behavior. But is this true? I am a Born-Again believer. If I turn away from God, away from the Bible and away from His guidance, will I end up in some sort of journey to moral depravity?
Over the years, I have met wonderful Atheists and ex-Christians who in all appearances were very moral, true to their commitments, who love their spouses and remain faithful to them, and are genuinely very nice people and pleasant to be around. I have also met some very pious Believers who have immoral habits, who are lazy at work, and who cannot be trusted.
I would venture to say that the Christians and followers of other religions generally have higher standards and expectations for themselves than unbelievers, but few if any live up to the standards they have set for themselves and for others.
People who fail to live up to their standards may realize that they fall from time to time and excuse their forays; they may inwardly deny they have issues; they may mentally beat themselves up; or they may admit they have issues and move on with their lives.
I had a good friend in Seminary who fell out of the faith. He simply stopped believing that God loved and cared for him. He stopped believing that God was relevant to his life or for any one else. Politics overtook his life and my friend decided that political action and dialogue was far better and more affective in helping humanity than personal faith. I was still young and in my 20s so my mind rushed to wondering how he would be able to live a life committed to his wife and dedicated to helping others. I expected his morals to fall apart; but his lack of faith seemed to have no effect on his moral path in life that I could see.
So where do Unbelievers get their sense of right and wrong?
MORALITY FROM WITHIN - CREATION AND NATURAL LAW
When the Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans, he had not yet met the church. Paul was a missionary traveling further and further westward, and wanted to work out of Rome for his next missionary journey - in other words he was writing to ask the Romans to become his sending church. But in order to do so, he wanted them to know the teachings he taught everywhere. So he wrote a letter to the Church in Rome which in the Bible is called the Book of Romans.
One of the very first arguments Paul developed in the book of Romans was one that established that unbelievers (he called Gentiles) could by nature be just as moral as the people who were steeped in the Word of God:
Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts...(Romans 2:14-15).
His argument concluded that God put His morals (His Goodness) in every human being when He made us in His image. However, no matter how much goodness God has bestowed upon us as His image bearers, sin perverts and corrupts what is good. In fact, sin so corrupts us that some theologians claim that any vestige of good is completely destroyed - we are totally and completely depraved, as Jesus said, "Who is good, but God alone?"
According to these theologians, the only good that we get comes from God and is given to us in a relationship with Christ.
MORALITY FROM WITHIN - EVOLUTION
The idea that evolution has given us an inner sense of morality is built on the premise that morality was and is necessary to the survival of the species. The core of survival is individual self-centeredness. I need to survive, and to survive I need a group because a group protect me, as, "there is safety in numbers." And because I need the group to survive, I will adjust my own needs enough to contribute to the group to make sure my group survives, because if my group survives, I survive.
It doesn't take too long for an individual to realize that independent and self-centered actions can hinder or destroy the group. Independent behavior that threatens the group may eventually send me out of the group as the rest of the members will want to protect the group.
Individualists who are too separated from their societies are not able to continue adding to the group and will be pushed out and will be unable to survive on their own. So as extreme individualists are pushed out, the traits that help people bond with groups will dominate in the species. Through survival of the fittest, those traits that keep us working together become morals that are internalized in all of us to one degree or another.
Evolution says that morality is a part of my nature. Today I internally know that murdering someone inside my group is wrong, as I know that taking someone else's wife or possessions is wrong; but my self-centered nature will take over from time to time and break the internal agreement I have with others. In other words, although there is a sense of morality and a sense of need to serve the group and others in my group passed down from evolution, my self-centered nature can and will at times come out to overrule my morals and my duty to the group. As with Creationists, I can either defend and justify my actions with excuses, or I may realize that I have done wrong and deal with it according to the ways I have been trained from childhood or from other experiences.
MORALITY FROM WITHOUT - LEARNING FROM OUR SURROUNDINGS
The above mentioned views are based within us, they are internal. Some will believe one, some believe the other and some will believe that there is a combination of both. Even someone who believes that the earth was created 6,000 years ago can see that there is an internal need to survive and to survive within a group - although they believe that this is something God put within humans at birth and from creation.
However, morality is not only something that is inward and natural to us, in fact, most of what I just stated about Evolution could also have been simply learned in my experience growing up. From the moment I was born I was faced with one reality that stood out above the rest: I needed others to survive - a mother, a father, a caretaker, or anyone who would make sure that I would continue to live.
While infancy and childhood are mostly forgotten, the years are intense learning times: From the moment I entered the world I learned that I had a group - a family that took care of me. I knew that my group was important for my survival - they fed me and took care of me. Without others, I would have died.
As I grew older, my lessons from childhood stayed with me. The lessons I learned as an infant reached out to the people with whom I went to school, to friends, to church, to work, and so on. I learned that I belonged to the group that helped me to live.
Knowing that I needed others to survive, I adjusted self-interest to help my group survive. Outside groups were less important to me and to my group. In fact, other groups could be a threat or a perceived threat to my survival or the survival of my group. And when other groups threaten me or my group, they are quickly deemed evil and may need to be eradicated. And if I view them as evil, I will look for and see only evil in those other groups. It will not occur to me that each one of those groups are in many ways, mirrors of my own group. People in those groups who grew up in those groups will view my group as evil and will see only bad things in my group. We see this in political parties, in tribal conflict, and in nations that argue or fight.
MORALITY FROM WITHOUT - LAWS AND FEAR OF PUNISHMENT
Besides lessons learned from childhood, there are other foundations for morality that come from without. I have no desire to keep the speed limit when I am in a hurry. In fact, I would love to take my car much faster most of the times, but because every ticket I had in years past cost me so much in insurance, today I keep within a few miles of the speed limit.
Laws and punishments are important because they help keep individuals safe from hurting themselves, others, or the group. Laws are written by the Government, by the State, by the cities, by churches, by corporations and businesses and by families. Written and unwritten laws are made in every level.
My workplace has a Code of Ethics as well as rules and regulations for employees and contractors. And my church has a Code of Conduct, Constitution and By-Laws. These are needed for each group to work together in a common direction and to curb individualists, such as myself, from going in directions that are not serving the needs of the whole and may be destructive to the group (the company or the church).
As for me, I do not revere laws as much as I fear the consequences of breaking laws, so I generally keep to the speed limit. I learned as a young kid that breaking rules have consequences as my parents disciplined me and as I learned what I could get away with and what I could not get away with.
I have been created with internal morals that keep me from misbehaving in some ways and I have morals that come from without that keep me from doing wrong things.
MORALITY FROM WITHOUT - GOD
Religion or faith provide us with another morality that comes from without, and that is from God. In religion there are rules that are placed upon us from a higher power. Whether it is the Koran, the Bible, or the Book of Mormon, these writings serve as guides and rules for conduct and life. Each one of these books are believed by their followers to be inspired by or given directly from God.
MORALITY FROM WITHOUT PLACED WITHIN - JESUS CHRIST
The Christian Bible tells us that "Jesus died for our sins." This phrase is very popular in the U.S., but has lost much of its original meaning. For many this phrase means that Jesus took our place for the punishment we deserved for sin, and this is true. But when Jesus died for our sins, it was more than just paying the price for our failures, for when Jesus hung on the cross, the Bible says that he so identified with humanity, that we were there with him suffering, dying, and eventually rise again.
Here is how this all works: I am crucified with Christ and I am raised up with Him, so I am dead and the life I now live is a life raised up from the dead. When I was converted and baptized in Christ, I died with Christ and I died to sin and to the powers of this world. Full Immersion Baptism (when one is completely buried in water) symbolizes the going down into burial and rising up to new life. Pouring over the head type of baptism symbolizes the cleansing of sin. According to the Bible, when I turned to Christ and was baptized, sin and the powers of this world no longer had a hold over me and I became free to serve God and to live morally in Christ.
When I died with Christ in baptism and conversion, I was raised up a new person, so that the life I now have I live by faith and in the power that God used in raising Jesus from the dead. So I died, but but was raised to live for God. The morals that I have that go beyond what I learned growing up and from society around me, I have from God who raised me from the dead in Christ.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but
Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son
of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Galatians 2:20
WHERE DOES THE ATHEIST GET HIS/HER MORALITY?
So where do Atheists and Agnostics get their sense of morality? I would say that many of their morals and commitments to others come from the same place Believers get theirs - learning from and growing up in families that cared for them and unconsciously taught them how to survive with others. Believers add on such morals as come from their faiths; but a lot of the basics of morality come from our own common learning experiences growing up.
