If you stopped believing in God, would you immediately go out and murder someone?

Question

This is in response to the person (people, I should say, since I've seen it many times) asking atheists where they get their morals.

If you said no, why not?

If you said yes... umm... that's extremely scary!!

Answer 1

ROFL, HOW ABOUT THE LAW ???

it has much better influence than any religion, as you go not to h**l but to Jail !!

Answer 2

I haven't murdered anyone. But I sure would like to slap the sh** out of who ever reported poor r****d!

Answer 3

No, I have some common sense.

Answer 4

I didn't.

Answer 5

No, but if you don't change the litterbox, i am going in your closet.  

Answer 6

A lot of the people who do really F'ed up things, like setting their five year old daughter on fire, or keeping them chained to the basement, are christians.

Seen or read Carrie?

Answer 7

I think for someone who is like 30+ years old, and obsessed with the Bible from birth, you know the kind of people... could not take the reality of that scenario. They probably WOULD do something drastic like that...

Answer 8

I do not have the desire to kill people and I hope that I never will. My personality would be similar no matter what I choose to believe. I do believe that my personal beliefs shape my behavior but it would not drastically change my habits. Who am I accountable to if I am not a Christian? I would be accountable to other people and myself. My sense of self is not based upon my religion.

As for Christians vs. atheists and crime remember that correlation does not suggest causation! Christianity, like

Islam has become or is becoming more of a social structure than a religion in many aspects. It is unfair to judge people based upon words they may or may not mean. Nothing is ever as simple as it seems.

Answer 9

No. I have no interest in wrecking someone elses life. I have enough to deal with in my own rather then become focused on killing someone.

Answer 10

No, Logic.

Answer 11

Nope.

Golden rule is above religion.  I wouldn't want someone to kill me so why would I go kill someone except of course if they were trying to kill me.

Answer 12

of course not...im nonviolent Pisces....parents can help with teaching these things... Ive never asked that but they might be curious since they seem to concerned always coming here asking about Gods rules..

Answer 13

No, I'll be too busy cuddling with you when you are sleeping!

Answer 14

No, I wouldn't.  I'd use VOODOO DOLLS!  :-)

Answer 15

You don't have to murder someone to be immoral.

Jesus said that if you even hate someone, or you are angry at them, you are already guilty of murder.

Answer 16

Most of the recent violent gun crimes were done by people claiming to be Christian.

Answer 17

Of course not, bu if I started believing in God I might!  I have read his book! There are plenty of infidels that need sacrificing.  

Answer 18

I can't imagine not believing in G-d.  Ask me if I will stop believing I would get hurt should I cross a busy highway at night.

No, I don't think I have it in me to kill another person.

Answer 19

Well, I have occasionally fantasized about going postal with some sort of a nerf gun (with the ammo dipped in paint so I knew who I "killed" and who was only simply horribly maimed), but I'm not terribly into violence in the real world. When I do feel violent I usually break out my Metal Gear Solid VR missions and shoot and bomb to my heart's content. Then again, I don't believe we need a belief in God for morals. God put those into us and we have to work hard to ignore what our conscience tells us.

Answer 20

Well I did at the start but I managed to get away with it for long enough and eventually the blood lust disappeared!  Just wait it out.

Seriously though, morality is a genetic and cultural collection of traits that changes over time and most certainly pre-dates any religion, though religion probably affected it since it did arise.

Looking at the facts, I would consider it probable that religion was an attempt in pre-biological sciences years to explain innate moral impulses, which often appear to be totally illogical when you are not aware of genetics.  To explain the inexplicable sense of being judged from conscience, it wouldn't be a huge leap to assume a higher power and that's quite possibly what happened.  That's just my opinion of course but it does garner strong support in biological anthropology circles.

Answer 21

Hey Mizz Z - interesting question.

For me - the answer is no, of course.

I think the issue is this: many Theist were raised that way, belong to tightly knit religious communities and just don't know that many people who are different from them. As a Christian, I have a church I belong to and I spend quite a bit of my time there. Most of the people I hang out with happen to be from my church.

I personally have had the advantage of living in a few different countries and many large cities. My experience and the people I've met have been varied. My sister-in-law is an Atheist and she's one of the most moral people I know.

It's just a lack of education - I believe people assume that because Atheists don't believe in the existence of God, they must be polar opposites from Theists. It's a weird conclusion to draw, but you can understand why it happens. When you connect your own morals to your religion, you might wonder where anyone without religion gets theirs. I personally get it - but you can see why someone might draw a weird conclusion.  

Answer 22

No, I wouldn't for the same reason you wouldn't.  Fear of punishment.  Fear of being rejected by society.  Fear, fear, fear.  

But I've asked the following question with a completely different response:

Would you take a large amount of money from an oil company knowing for absolute sure that the theft would never be detected and you were completely safe.

Answer 23

the rights we have from birth, our natural rights, are "Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness."

we have those rights no matter what.

the government, however, applies laws to PROTECT those rights.

in many religions, the divine power is just a leviathon instate fear so people would keep acting right. much of our moral education comes from religion, but losing religion does not necessarily make you lose your morals. the government also uses schools and other organizations (FEMA, MADD) to promote civic virtue.

i am a strong believer in Christ, and even when i was athiest, my morals were still the same (except i different views on using drugs). I would not kill someone when i was convinced there was no God and that it was every man for himself, and i still will not kill anyone now that i know that the Lord is real and in me.

another point- people who believe in God do sin, they lie, steal, cuss, whatever. in God's eyes, there is no greater sin and no lesser sin. the liar is going to the same h**l as the rapist. Christians kill people already. but i would never kill someone. i've done horrible horrible things before... but never taken anybody's life. that's a RIGHT someone has their whole life.

Answer 24

No, my morals became more consistent when I became an atheist.  I hate to say it, but it's much easier to be understanding of others and forgiving because I really hate what a person did is no longer an issue.  

Answer 25

Who knows.  I'm a criminal defense attorney.  Believe me when I tell you that I can just about rationalize anything.  LOL

You definitely want me to believe just the way I do.

Edit:  On a serious note, however, I don't think this is a valid question, operating from a Christian perspective.  There is no disagreement that atheists' possess morals.  The issue is where do they come from and are there absolutes.

Answer 26

No, because I'll never give up God.

Yes - why would I murder somebody? That's totally against the Word of God!

Oh and ... why people murder is because they hate, and true Christians are told not to Murder, and to love all (true love and human love, not so much of human love cause that's sort of lust).

Atheism...there is no penalty for murder so ... yeah, besides the law, atheists have no fear/regrets...

Answer 27

Thats the first thing I did. Good thing just before my revelation, i went to Iraq. Im still there, and 600,000 ish people later im still killing!

no... wait, that wasnt me, that was Imperialist Bush administration, act of a Christian.  

Answer 28

Let me ask you.  If you knew there would be no social repercussions (like being arrested or even looked down upon)  is there anyone you would now or have ever wanted to kill?    The only logical answer that would completely follow the beliefs of an atheist would be yes since the only measure of morality would be the social one.  

Answer 29

Yes, i would go out and murder a ton of people, i would burn down houses and pilage the land and torture people (sounds a bit like religious fundametalism doesnt it?)...

because without god, i have no code to live my life by... without god, i am a moraless person with no empathy or compasssion for other human beings. Why? because i wouldnt believe in consequence.. whats to stop me?  

Answer 30

I see it happening all the time, everywhere.  People mass-murdering others in universities, churches, schools, streets, abortion clinics, etc. etc. and claiming that it's their conversion to atheism that made them go crazy

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No, wait!  I'm mistaken, it's usually people proclaiming themselves as Christians and claiming their god commanded them to do it.  Sorry, got confused there for a minute with such an astute question

Answer 31

No,

i was born and raised in a Catholic family, i was forced fed lies for my whole childhood, when really...i knew deep down that God did not exist.

I get my morals from being a good person and wanting to be treat people the way i want to be treated.

You don't have to believe in God to be a good person y'know?