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Is It Possible for Atheists to Have "Objective Morality"? (hilariouschaos.com)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I've heard this claim before that it is not possible for atheists to have "objective moral beliefs" because many moral claims are based on religious authority, which atheists do not believe in.

Thus atheists are subjectivists when it comes to morality: each atheist may disagree with the other about what is moral. Obviously this opens atheists up to problems of disagreements, with some who might believe very conventionally "immoral" things are acceptable for them.

This is not of course to say that atheists may not choose to live lives that are some what "moral" (moral, as is often defined by religions)

So, what's the status of the idea of "objective morality" and atheism?

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[–] RadicalEagle 12 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I don't see how moral beliefs based on religious authority could be considered "objective."

I look at all the splintering of religions that resulted from moral disagreements and differing interpretations of their religious texts and don't feel inclined to believe that morality derived from religion has any particular value in my world.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 7 months ago (2 children)

This is a slightly different discussion, but there's nothing to prevent atheists splintering in disagreement as they have no commonly agreements with morality

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

and yet, you dont see factions of atheists murdering each other which seems to be a default feature of organized religion... hmmmmm

its almost like the 'religious moral authority' is far less stable than the 'inherent social morality'

[–] jordanlund 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

[–] [email protected] -1 points 7 months ago

hmmm the Communists were atheistic so it does happen @jordanlund

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

There's nothing to prevent religious people of doing the same either, even in the same religion you'll have disagreements on what's right or wrong.

You're assuming that every atheist has a different morality but at the same time assume every believer of one religion have the same one.