Just Atheists

by Daren Jaques

Theists frequently ask me, “why be a moral person if there is no punishment in the afterlife?” Well, there are lots of reasons. 1) I will not be as successful in life if others cannot trust me, and if all I ever do is look after myself, then people will not trust me. This applies to lying, stealing, and harming others generally. 2) I do not believe that I can be “absolved” of my wrongdoing through either a shaman’s magic (confession) nor through the ritual drinking of human/god blood (communion). That means I need to try and be as good and kind as possible every time I act because there are no do-overs.

I am troubled by the implication from some theists; they imply that if they stopped believing in a god, then they would become some kind of immoral and egocentric criminal. It is not the threat of eternal punishment that motivates me to do good deeds, it is for the mutual benefit of us all.

I find the latter to be a more positive outlook, for sure.