A guy who missed the point of atheism:
One of my friends told me the other night that he had stopped to help a stranded motorist.
"Why would you do that?" I asked.
"Because it was the right thing to do. She needed help."
"But," I protested, "that doesn't make any sense. You wasted your time and efforts on a complete stranger, and for what? You got nothing out of it. You should have kept right on driving."
He gave me a puzzled look.
What I meant to say is that God is the basis for good and evil, and once you reject him and his rules, you're left with nothing but self-serving and self-preservation. In short, you're left with being your own god.
No. Atheists merely reject the idea that morality must be imposed by a mythical figure, we do not reject the idea that people must have morality for society to work. In fact, that’s the point. If you're only following a moral code because you're afraid you'll get caught by god (or more terrestrial authorities), while I'm glad your following the rules, don't expect me to respect you. What you're saying is that you are fundamentally untrustworthy without fear of punishment. Further, you probably believe that everyone else is the same way. Hence, god is needed everywhere, to watch all the time, to keep folks on the right path.
I believe people are capable of more, the right and wrong can be taught as core values and that fear of god is superfluous. I try to live up to my highest ideals and while I don't always succeed, I don’t think I fail more than the faithful, and I know that the consequences are mine to bear.
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