Atheist vs Christian morality
Published:Sunday | September 4, 2011 | 12:00 AM
THE EDITOR, Sir:
Christians never tire of trumpeting that they get their morality from God and the Bible. I find this claim rather surprising, considering that the God in the Bible (a book which few Christians even bother to read) is racist, sadomasochistic, homophobic, misogynistic, etc.
It seems a bit degrading, if not servile, for a person to do moral acts knowing that his actions will be approved by Big Brother and rewarded. If, however, Big Brother is not pleased, he will be punished.
The first four Commandments are religious edicts, not moral guidelines, and have nothing to do with how we should treat each other. The others have some relevance in our society and we should be thankful for this. But what about child abuse, incest, rape? Woe betide the Christian who disobeys any of His commandments. He shall be cast into the depths of hell and consumed by fire and brimstone and eternal damnation. But God loves him.
Cultural upbringing
Tragically, a child born into a faith-driven religious society is encouraged, if not forced, to live in a prescribed way and through his cultural upbringing adopt a religion purely on faith. I think this demeans and belittles the value of his life. He is not given the opportunity of discovering the world for himself through free thinking and reasoned arguments. Blind faith unsupported by reason can be lethal.
Atheists are privileged. They are free to live their lives by the choices they make and making rational judgements. Their lives do not revolve around what to wear, what to eat, and what day they are forbidden to work. Return morality to the human world into the hands of humans who can create and sustain it. We should be the ones empowered to decide how to live - by debate, discussion and critical thinking, not by relying on some unproven supernatural deity.
ETHON LOWE (Dr)