Atheism IS Immoral

Let me begin this post by defining two keywords to be focused on: moral and immoral. These words constitute the grounds on which we can determine whether or not any given belief, or lack of a belief, is "moral."

Moral:

Of, pertaining to, or concerned with the principles or rules of right conduct or the distinction between right and wrong; ethical: moral attitudes.

Immoral:

Violating moral principles; not conforming to the patterns of conduct usually accepted or established as consistent with principles of personal and social ethics.

While there are many accepted definitions of these words, I found these definitions to most concisely and accurately display the sentiments found within each of the individual definitions. These were taken right from the dictionary, and if you have a problem with these definitions in my analysis; feel free to say so in a comment! As such, I will be moving forward with these definitions of "morality" and "immorality" in mind.

As is evident, I have titled my blog post "Atheism is immoral." But why would an atheist believe in something like this? Why would anyone want to be immoral? These are valid questions for sure.

My simple response to this notion that atheism is immoral is a result from understanding the definitions of these words, and the larger awareness at the existence of many different moral theories. Atheists are often called "immoral" by individuals who are either theists or just stringent fundamentalists and traditionalists. In many respects, these claims are unfounded. They have no formal justification. With that said, let us take these claims a priori ("at face value") and assume they are correct for the sake of experimentation and learning.

For the moment, I am imagining I am a theist and the doctrine of the Christian church is what I believe in. My faith is virtually unshakable. I am bothered by other belief systems, especially those that propose flaws with my own. I believe in Jesus Christ and Yahweh. I believe God speaks to people through his holy word, as found in the Bible. Furthermore, I believe the Bible should be the basis for morality. The Bible is the incarnate word of God, and should therefore be viewed as the ultimate source of knowledge, wisdom, and morality.

This is how I perceive the average Christian would think. If I am wrong, again, feel free to correct me and I will address your points either in a response comment or in a future post. However, moving forward, assuming this to be an accurate depiction of the accurate Christian; the issue of morality can more honestly be discussed. More importantly, the realization that atheism is inherently immoral can also be found.

If the Bible (and by extension the Christian religion and church) is the basis for one's moral code, then atheism is immoral as it is juxtaposed to basic tenants of Christian morality.

When arguing from the side of a theist, there is no doubt that atheists should minimally be perceived as immoral. As in, they act in such a way that "violates moral principles." The moral principles followed by Christians are likely inherently different then those atheists themselves would follow. While we may all agree that in most conditions murder is morally wrong, our justification for this may be rather different. For example, the Ten Commandments plainly states: "Thou shalt not kill." To a Christian, murder is not justified because God has commanded that we not do this. It is sinful and inherently immoral. For an atheist, we are not bound to the will of God, and therefore may conclude that murder is wrong because it violates utilitarian principles (the golden rule), it is socially abhorrent, and similar moral and ethical problems not completely related to the morality and ethics of Scripture.

Since the moral codes of theists and atheists have a tendency to differ, in ways that are both small and great, it is easy to understand how the conclusion that "atheism is immoral" can be reached by those who do not have an atheistic worldview. As such, to a theist, the perception that atheism is, in fact, immoral makes sense. It is logically valid, because the morality these theistic individuals are working off of is one that tells them that atheism IS immoral.

However, the curve ball in the equation is this: By the religious moral code informing us that atheism is immoral, yet other valid moral codes (such as utilitarian moral theory) would suggest that it is not inherently abhorrent; then we are simply stuck in a scenario where the "moral" make-up of an atheist is one that is dependent on how an individual perceives atheists. This my friends is called moral relativism (or subjective morality). The argument that atheism is immoral can go no further then this, as we have no conclusive evidence that any one moral theory is more or less valid then another.

If you have any questions, comments, or would like to stir some debate feel free to comment! Just keep it civil!