Do Atheists have any moral and ethical backstops?

[HARK!]

MOD HAT ON

THIS THREAD NEEDS CLEANING!

LET'S WORK TOGETHER TO KEEP IT THIS WAY!

MOD HAT OFF​

 

[Bradskii]

Looks like someone beat me to it as regards the use of that term. Thanks to the mods for the clean up.

 

[Bradskii]

...and I don't want to read it.

Funny you should say that...

 

[returntosender]

I see the word as funny not racist. Says a lot of the observer. The truth is you just don't like how I feel about your way of life. So you struck out. Do you feel better now?

 

[Occams Barber]

I see the word as funny not racist. Says a lot of the observer. The truth is you just don't like how I feel about your way of life. So you struck out. Do you feel better now?

Atheism isn't a "way of life" or a religion or an ideology.

It's the absence of a belief in gods. That's it.

BTW: The dictionary describes your 'funny' term as:

"Extremely Disparaging and Offensive".​

OB

 

[returntosender]

Atheism isn't a "way of life" or a religion or an ideology.

It's the absence of a belief in gods. That's it.

BTW: The dictionary describes your 'funny' term as:

"Extremely Disparaging and Offensive".​

OB

I didn't look it up because I had no reason to. I like the term because I think it funny not disparaging as some of you do. There are a lot of things you can find offending if that's the way you roll.
Just as Christianity is a way of life so is atheism to me.

 

[Astrid]

Atheism isn't a "way of life" or a religion or an ideology.

It's the absence of a belief in gods. That's it.

BTW: The dictionary describes your 'funny' term as:

"Extremely Disparaging and Offensive".​

OB

Fits with disparaging atheists

 

[Bradskii]

Do you feel better now?

I feel a lot better now the thread has been cleaned up. Thanks for asking.

 

[Astrid]

I see the word as funny not racist. Says a lot of the observer. The truth is you just don't like how I feel about your way of life. So you struck out. Do you feel better now?

Any "funny " words you like to use for Chinese?

 

[Occams Barber]

I didn't look it up because I had no reason to. I like the term because I think it funny not disparaging as some of you do.

You didn't offend me directly since I wasn't the target of your derogatory word choice.

Now you're aware that the term you used is both offensive and racist, perhaps you could correct your error by publicly apologising to those you've disparaged.

OB

 

[JustSomeBloke]

I have a degree in psychology. I'm quite familiar with the Milgram experiment. I don't see the connection to 'backstop' in fact I don't really understand what you mean by backstop. My morality is what I determine it to be. I have no rule book to fall back on.

If you don't know what a moral and ethical backstop is, you might find it difficult to participate in this thread.

Isnt this topic generally aimed at
showing atheists to be morally inferior to believers?

This thread was born out of curiosity. I didn't wake up yesterday and think 'what can I do today to rattle the atheist's cages'. The topic of moral and ethical backstops has been on my mind for quite a few months. Eventually I decided I might as well create a thread and see what people have to say about it.

There are no "backstops" for anyone. Look at how morality has changed through history and how it varies between different cultures.

The Old Testament has been around for a while.

I think the practice of basic humanism should get most Atheists through the majority of ethical decisions. There is also an innate desire to be accepted by family/friends/society. Doing things that go against societal norms, especially things that harm others, would hurt your ability to operate in mainstream society. There is a problem though if one is antisocial. Not antisocial like you don't like being around people but antisocial as in no empathy.

Do all Atheists consider themselves to be Humanists?

• Bloke: Do Atheists have backstops?
• Zippy: Can you say what you mean by 'backstop'?
• Bloke: No, I refuse.

Welp, that was a fun thread! Do you have any other topics you want to pretend to talk about? Because I love wasting my time and pretending to talk about things.

Your request looked like the start of a thread derail attempt, and it was somewhat off topic. Many Christians reject some Bible teachings because they don't fit with modern liberal values. Let's leave it there.

Atheism isn't a "way of life" or a religion or an ideology.

It's the absence of a belief in gods. That's it.

BTW: The dictionary describes your 'funny' term as:

"Extremely Disparaging and Offensive".​

OB

Atheism is the belief that there is no God. From that point of view it could be argued that Atheism is a religion with a singular belief.

 

[Astrid]

Atheism is the belief that there is no God. From that point of view it could be argued that Atheism is a religion with a singular belief.

Must be a terrif number of religions.
One for everything you don't believe in.

Or maybe some arguments are just dumb.

 

[Ken-1122]

If you don't know what a moral and ethical backstop is, you might find it difficult to participate in this thread.

Why don’t you explain how you are defining “back stop” that way there is a clear understanding about what you are talking about.

Atheism is the belief that there is no God. From that point of view it could be argued that Atheism is a religion with a singular belief.

Atheism is just someone who doesn’t believe in God. As an atheist, I recognize what you call God may exist, but because I don’t call it God (I may call it something else) I am considered atheist.

 

[Occams Barber]

Atheism is the belief that there is no God. From that point of view it could be argued that Atheism is a religion with a singular belief.

Do you accept the existence of fairies?

If, as I suspect, the answer is "No", I could, using your strange logic, suggest that your fairy disbelief is a religion. Obviously this would make no sense.

Once again - atheism is not a belief - it's the absence of a belief. There is no atheist deity, no religious rites or rituals, nothing to pray to or supplicate, no moral rules, no sacred text, no pastors or priests, no ideology or dogma or sacred mythology.

By any reasonable evaluation there is nothing to indicate that atheism is a religion.

OB

 

[Occams Barber]

If you don't know what a moral and ethical backstop is, you might find it difficult to participate in this thread.

I seem to have managed to participate in the thread so far.

By my count I'm the fourth poster to ask you to clarify what you mean by 'backstop'. So far you've avoided providing an answer.

This suggests to me that you're not sure what you mean.

OB

 

[Bradskii]

By my count I'm the fourth poster to ask you to clarify what you mean by 'backstop'. So far you've avoided providing an answer.

OB

Bags me being fifth.

I've taken it as something that would prevent me changing my mind on any given moral matter. But that's an assumption I'd like confirmed.

 

[rturner76]

Do all Atheists consider themselves to be Humanists?

I don't think ALL of anybody won't believe the same thing. Some are humanists, some just act with humanity, some are just as dirty as those molesting Priests. So religion does not prevent bad behavior, conscience does. God gives all humans a conscience (Except sociopaths).

 

[JustSomeBloke]

By my count I'm the fourth poster to ask you to clarify what you mean by 'backstop'. So far you've avoided providing an answer.

I've taken it as something that would prevent me changing my mind on any given moral matter. But that's an assumption I'd like confirmed.

I don't think it's a very difficult concept, so I'm puzzled at the requests for clarification. And as I previously explained, I considered an earlier request for examples of Biblical backstops as likely to lead to a thread derail.

I think most people should know what a backstop is. You can call it an absolute limit if you like, a red line that must never be crossed, a behaviour that is always prohibited, or a value that is non-negotiable to the extent that removing the restriction is not even debatable.

Hope that helps.

 

[Astrid]

I don't think it's a very difficult concept, so I'm puzzled at the requests for clarification. And as I previously explained, I considered an earlier request for examples of Biblical backstops as likely to lead to a thread derail.

I think most people should know what a backstop is. You can call it an absolute limit if you like, a red line that must never be crossed, a behaviour that is always prohibited, or a value that is non-negotiable to the extent that removing the restriction is not even debatable.

Hope that helps.

Not making up undefined terms in the first place would have been
more helpful.

Of course the idea is simple. But we are not psychics
and have see scads of stupid equivocation games.
"Atheism is a religion" is outstanding in that regard.

 

[Ken-1122]

I don't think it's a very difficult concept, so I'm puzzled at the requests for clarification. And as I previously explained, I considered an earlier request for examples of Biblical backstops as likely to lead to a thread derail.

I think most people should know what a backstop is. You can call it an absolute limit if you like, a red line that must never be crossed, a behaviour that is always prohibited, or a value that is non-negotiable to the extent that removing the restriction is not even debatable.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for the clarification. I noticed you are from the UK, most people on this forum are not from your country so terms, slang, and phrases that may be common in your country may not be common in others.
With that being said, I would say a back stop for atheists would probably be Deity/God belief, because once someone crosses that line, they are no longer an atheist.