Atheism and Moral Virtues – Morality is Independent of Religion

Feb 26, 2011
Thais Campos

The Myth of Sisyphus - Public Domain

It's wrong to believe that atheists don't have reasons to develop moral virtues. For atheists, morality isn't a matter of belief, but rationality.

Every once in a while I hear people arguing that if there is no God, there is no reason to be ethical, to develop a sense of justice, values and morality. Some people even attempt to prove their point of view by providing a list of terrible things that atheists have done throughout history, as if the insanity of these evil-doers was a result of being an atheist, and not a result of their dubious characters.

However, it is very easy to refute such arguments, since the list of believers who have stopped scientific progress, burned, tortured and imprisoned others "in the name of the Lord" might be even larger than that of the atheists.

Being evil or being good is not matter of being atheist or religious. In all religions there are wonderful people and bad people, and this is not different among non-believers. Philosophically speaking, let's examine the reasons why morality has nothing to do with religion and why it is perfectly plausible to develop moral virtues using rationality instead of faith.

Spiritual Materialism

Some people, even some of the most religious, develop moral virtues for the wrong reasons. They want to please God so that they can be rewarded later, they practice charity so that they can go to heaven, they refrain from harming others so that God won't punish them, they live a righteous life out of fear of God.

These people, according to some schools of thought, are sometimes more materialistic than those who have no beliefs about an afterlife or a supreme being.

When the reason behind righteousness is the reward, then this is materialism disguised as spirituality. A person who is truly altruistic lives an ethical and righteous life even if there is nothing to be gained afterward – he or she does good because this is the right thing to do with or without a God, as good is good in itself.

Nietzsche's Antichrist

In his masterpiece, The Antichrist , Nietzsche criticized not Christianity, but Christians who hope for a better life in the future, when they go to heaven. For Nietzsche, Paul was responsible for transforming Christianity into a spiritual materialism, in which people neglect the present life to the detriment of a spiritual life later.

Nietzsche argued that holiness emerges in the present moment, the reward for being righteous is a joyful life here and now, because a great life in the present existence is possible when society develops ethical principles – the ethics that Jesus would have advocated in early Christianity. However, this becomes impossible when people are working to become better simply because they believe if they do so, they can expect a future of joy.

Albert Camus advocated a similar concept through his explanation of the Myth of Sisyphus. Sisyphus was the Greek mythological king condemned to roll a heavy rock up the mountain only to watch it roll down again after all his efforts. Like Sisyphus, people need to construct ethics and morality even if everything will roll down the hill. For Camus, this myth represents the meaninglessness of the world, but also the human ability to overcome meaninglessness by accepting it.

Ancient Philosophy

Many schools of thought of the ancient world believed in a supreme being, or multiple gods which were regarded as facets of one supreme being. Hindus, Egyptians and Greeks (some schools) based their philosophies on the idea that the human goal is to reach the human ideal through a process of evolution of the soul, and being born in a physical world is a way to acquire consciousness, or learn the difference between good and evil.

Buddhists do not believe in a supreme being, but rather, in the idea that everything is part of the universal consciousness, and humans need to be reborn many times in a physical body in order to become conscious of their true nature and finally merge with their original source when the ideal is reached.

Nevertheless, in all these belief systems, ideal humans are those who find happiness and joy doing the things that correspond to their nature, and those who act according to ethical principles, never expecting rewards or recognition. If there is no God, no heaven, no hell, no rebirths, no punishment and no reward, would you still be kind, tolerant, compassionate and ethical? If the answer is "yes", you'll find inner peace no matter what you believe and independently of any belief.