In one nation under God, the idea that morality can exist outside the comfortable embrace of the Lord seems foreign. In many religions where only God’s word can define an ethical code, all those who stray from God are deemed immoral. Because atheists don’t believe in a god, they are often associated with moral bankruptcy. Do we need a belief in God to act morally? Moral decisions do not require the existence of God, but rather the basic biological and psychological empathy possessed by all human beings, religious or not.
Under Divine Command Theory, the philosophy that underpins much of Judeo-Christian thought, all that is moral is moral because God says it is. In this sense, morality is contracted as something that exists outside human understanding, and these sacred truths can only be erased with a holy pen. While concepts such as original sin and innate evil serve as the backbone of moral guilt, I never felt as an atheist that my moral actions needed to be monitored by a religious daycare. My views on morality versus immorality were rooted in my natural ability to empathize and rationalize.
My ability to understand the horror of sexism, racism and homophobia isn’t based off of my fear of going to hell, but by basic rational thought, supported by empirical evidence in biology, psychology and sociology. Atheists can determine right and wrong based on the consequences of their actions. By observing the positive or negative effects of their actions, atheists can hold themselves accountable for what they do and how they should treat others under the law.
Elementary ideas, such as cause and effect, personal responsibility and the golden rule help constitute an atheist’s set of morals. As a result of evolution, humans are naturally social animals. This helps to explain why we sacrifice ourselves to fit in, to survive within the group and to develop intense relationships with others. Because of our psychobiological desire for relationships, we act in our own self-interest by furthering the interests of others.
The human will to cherry-pick what makes a righteous Christian and what constitutes an unethical Muslim justifies the reality that morality can’t be left to a strict religious construct. Morality is not dependent on one’s belief in a god, and the ability to take objectively good actions in society does not rely on humans developing a relationship with God before developing one with others.
Horrific religious cleansing massacres such as the Armenian Genocide, the Holocaust and the Bosnian Genocide plague the holy righteousness that is associated with religious virtue. To solely rely on religion for your moral code only provides you with a pedestal to place yourself above others. Morality can’t be defined strictly by its ethereal context. It is defined by how you treat others on earth, not how you think they should be treated in the afterlife.