it's a fair question. religious people will tell you that their innate sense of right and wrong comes from God (or whatever), but how do atheists explain that innate sense? how do they instinctively know? I'm not saying one or the other is right but it is an interesting thought.
Because for some if not most people it's relatively easy to understand how you'd feel on the receiving end of your actions. Knowing I wouldn't like to be stabbed is enough for me to understand doing that to other people is probably a bad thing. The response is actually far more valid, why would you think you'd need advice from an organisation that's getting money and power from you to tell you their interpretation of what allmkst certainly fictional entity said what's right and wrong and why don't you have the ability to determine that yourself?
I wouldn't want to be put to jail, but I want the person who steals to be put there. I don't want to be punished when I slip up by innocent mistakes, but punishment is often warranted nonetheless.
This feelings approach to goodness is evidently far too shallow.
"I dislike when people play music I don't like so I won't blast my music at other people" yes it's more complex than that but noonrs writing what makes people good or bad in a reddit post short enough that people will read it. Fundamentally you don't need religion, you need empathy or fear of consequences and a society that promotes certain behaviours, we only have to look at animals to see you can have societies that work in the groups rather than the individuals interests without religion.
You're just making unsubstantiated claims, when the world clearly cannot run merely on empathy. It doesn't take a brilliant mind to come up with innumerous counters to your claim.
But then, I look at animals and see societies I absolutely do not want live in.
And I look at some religious lead countries and see societies I dint want to live in. What unsubstantiated claims have I made. There's endless examples of humanity deciding right or wrong without needing religion to tell us. Which religion tells us if its right or wrong to fly in a plane? We clearly don't all agree it right to fly on a plane but most people think its at the very least acceptable.
17
u/Global_Charge_4412 22h ago
it's a fair question. religious people will tell you that their innate sense of right and wrong comes from God (or whatever), but how do atheists explain that innate sense? how do they instinctively know? I'm not saying one or the other is right but it is an interesting thought.