As an atheist, I don't think that humans get a top down morality imposed on them from an outside source. Instead, human morality has been developed from the bottom up. Just like every other physical and mental trait that humans possess, our conscience has evolved because it has helped our species survive. For most of our evolutionary history, we lived in small bands in very hostile environments where starvation, wild animals, enemy tribes and the elements threatened our existence at every turn. If we didn't care for our family members or didn't form cooperative relationships with others based on reciprocity and fairness, or if we regularly engaged in incest, our species would have gone extinct long ago.
I would argue that humans had a conscience long before the first religions appeared and this forms the basis for all moral systems throughout the world and throughout history. Moral systems were/are further influenced by culture and tradition. Certain behaviors might be considered deeply immoral in one culture, while at the same time be perfectly acceptable in others (e.g footbinding in ancient China, gladiatorial combat in ancient Rome, polygamy etc)
Humans created religion themselves and tried to codify what evolution had already given us (e.g. the Golden Rule) into their religions together with other "morals" such as "don't work on the Sabbath" or "don't worship other gods except me" etc.
Most people don't actually get their morals from the Bible, and to the extent that they do, they just pick and choose the nice bits (such as love your neighbor) and ignore the nasty bits (such as those that condone evils like slavery, genocide, rape, etc).
Do you believe that humans have always been able to tell right from wrong and have they always been capable of doing evil? What about Adam and Even, the Fall and it's consequences? How do you reconcile all these with evolution? See my other thread here: How do you reconcile Evolution and Genesis?
I would argue that humans had a conscience long before the first religions appeared and this forms the basis for all moral systems throughout the world and throughout history. Moral systems were/are further influenced by culture and tradition. Certain behaviors might be considered deeply immoral in one culture, while at the same time be perfectly acceptable in others (e.g footbinding in ancient China, gladiatorial combat in ancient Rome, polygamy etc)
Humans created religion themselves and tried to codify what evolution had already given us (e.g. the Golden Rule) into their religions together with other "morals" such as "don't work on the Sabbath" or "don't worship other gods except me" etc.
Most people don't actually get their morals from the Bible, and to the extent that they do, they just pick and choose the nice bits (such as love your neighbor) and ignore the nasty bits (such as those that condone evils like slavery, genocide, rape, etc).
Do you believe that humans have always been able to tell right from wrong and have they always been capable of doing evil? What about Adam and Even, the Fall and it's consequences? How do you reconcile all these with evolution? See my other thread here: How do you reconcile Evolution and Genesis?
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