Atheism

== Atheism and ethics ==

=== Secular ethics ===

{{See also|Criticism of atheism|Secular ethics|Secular morality}}

Joseph Baker and Buster Smith assert that one of the common themes of atheism is that most atheists "typically construe atheism as more moral than religion".<ref name="Baker and Smith 2015">{{cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Joseph O. |last2=Smith |first2=Buster G. |title=American Secularism: Cultural Contours of Nonreligious Belief Systems |date=2015 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=9781479896875 |page=100}}</ref> One of the most common [[criticism of atheism|criticisms of atheism]] has been to the contrary: that denying the existence of a god either leads to [[moral relativism]] and leaves one with no moral or ethical foundation,<ref name="misconceptions">{{cite web |url=http://articles.exchristian.net/2006/12/common-misconceptions-about-atheists.html |title=Common Misconceptions About Atheists and Atheism |last=Gleeson |first=David |date=August 10, 2006 |access-date=November 21, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231001241/http://articles.exchristian.net/2006/12/common-misconceptions-about-atheists.html |archive-date=December 31, 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref> or renders life [[meaning of life (religious)|meaningless]] and miserable.<ref>{{harvnb|Smith|1979|p=275}}. "Perhaps the most common criticism of atheism is the claim that it leads inevitably to [[moral bankruptcy]]."</ref> [[Blaise Pascal]] argued this view in his ''[[Pensées]]''.<ref>[[Blaise Pascal|Pascal, Blaise]] (1669). ''[[Pensées]]'', II: "The Misery of Man Without God".</ref> There is also a position claiming that atheists are quick to believe in God in times of crisis, that atheists make [[deathbed conversion]]s, or that "[[there are no atheists in foxholes]]".<ref>See, for example: {{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/features/ohair090896.htm |title=Atheist Group Moves Ahead Without O'Hair |first=Sue Anne |last=Pressley |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=September 8, 1996 |access-date=October 22, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171008044601/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/features/ohair090896.htm |archive-date=October 8, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> There have, however, been examples to the contrary, among them examples of literal "atheists in foxholes".<ref>{{cite web |last=Lowder |first=Jeffery Jay |year=1997 |title=Atheism and Society |url=http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/jeff_lowder/society.html |access-date=April 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522025011/http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/jeff_lowder/society.html |archive-date=May 22, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> There exist [[Normative ethics|normative ethical systems]] that do not require principles and rules to be given by a deity. Some include [[virtue ethics]], [[deontological ethics]] and [[Consequentialism|consequentialist ethics]] such as [[utilitarianism]].{{citation needed|date=November 2023}}

[[File:Campolo_Lecture.jpg|thumb|Lecture to the Atheist Community of San Jose in 2017.]]
According to Plato's [[Euthyphro dilemma]], the role of the gods in determining right from wrong is either unnecessary or arbitrary. [[Divine command theory|The argument that morality must be derived from God]], and cannot exist without a wise creator, has been a persistent feature of political if not so much philosophical debate.<ref>{{harvnb|Smith|1979|p=275}}. "Among the many myths associated with religion, none is more widespread{{sic}} – or more disastrous in its effects — than the myth that moral values cannot be divorced from the belief in a god."</ref><ref>In [[Dostoevsky]]'s ''[[The Brothers Karamazov]]'' (Book Eleven: ''Brother Ivan Fyodorovich'', Chapter 4) there is the famous argument that "If there is no God, all things are permitted.": {{"'}}But what will become of men then?' I asked him, 'without God and immortal life? All things are lawful then, they can do what they like?{{'"}}</ref><ref name="Kant CPR A811">For [[Immanuel Kant|Kant]], the presupposition of God, soul, and freedom was a practical concern, for "Morality, by itself, constitutes a system, but happiness does not, unless it is distributed in exact proportion to morality. This, however, is possible in an intelligible world only under a wise author and ruler. Reason compels us to admit such a ruler, together with life in such a world, which we must consider as future life, or else all moral laws are to be considered as idle dreams" (''Critique of Pure Reason'', A811).</ref> Moral precepts such as "murder is wrong" are seen as [[divine law]]s, requiring a divine lawmaker and judge. However, many atheists argue that treating morality legalistically involves a [[false analogy]], and that morality does not depend on a lawmaker in the same way that laws do.<ref>{{harvnb|Baggini|2003|p=38}}</ref>

Philosophers [[Susan Neiman]]<ref>{{cite video |people=[[Susan Neiman]] |title=Beyond Belief Session 6 |medium=Conference |publisher=The Science Network |location=[[Salk Institute]], La Jolla, California |date=November 6, 2006}}</ref> and [[Julian Baggini]]<ref>{{harvnb|Baggini|2003|p=40}}</ref> among others assert that behaving ethically only because of a divine mandate is not true ethical behavior but merely blind obedience. Baggini argues that atheism is a superior basis for ethics, claiming that a moral basis external to religious imperatives is necessary to evaluate the morality of the imperatives themselves—to be able to discern, for example, that "thou shalt steal" is immoral even if one's religion instructs it—and that atheists, therefore, have the advantage of being more inclined to make such evaluations.<ref>{{harvnb|Baggini|2003|p=43}}</ref>

Sociologist [[Phil Zuckerman]] analyzed previous social science research on secularity and non-belief and concluded that societal well-being is positively correlated with irreligion. He found that there are much lower concentrations of atheism and secularity in poorer, less developed nations (particularly in Africa and South America) than in the richer industrialized democracies.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Norris |first1=Pippa |first2=Ronald |last2=Inglehart |year=2004 |title=Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Bruce |first=Steve |year=2003 |title=Religion and Politics |location=Cambridge}}</ref>
His findings relating specifically to atheism in the US were that compared to religious people in the US, "atheists and secular people" are less [[Nationalism|nationalistic]], [[prejudice]]d, [[Antisemitism|antisemitic]], [[Racism|racist]], [[dogma]]tic, [[Ethnocentrism|ethnocentric]], closed-minded, and authoritarian, and in US states with the highest percentages of atheists, the murder rate is lower than average. In the most religious states, the murder rate is higher than average.<ref name="Zuckerman">{{cite journal |first1=Phil |last1=Zuckerman |year=2009 |title=Atheism, Secularity, and Well-Being: How the Findings of Social Science Counter Negative Stereotypes and Assumptions |url=http://pitweb.pitzer.edu/academics/wp-content/uploads/sites/38/2014/12/FAC-Zuckerman-Sociology-Compass.pdf |journal=Sociology Compass |volume=3 |issue=6 |pages=949–971 |doi=10.1111/j.1751-9020.2009.00247.x |access-date=June 8, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150608173754/http://pitweb.pitzer.edu/academics/wp-content/uploads/sites/38/2014/12/FAC-Zuckerman-Sociology-Compass.pdf |archive-date=June 8, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=Guardian>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/sep/12/pope-benedict-atheism-secularism |title=Societies without God are more benevolent |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=September 2, 2010 |access-date=November 21, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170225221202/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/sep/12/pope-benedict-atheism-secularism |archive-date=February 25, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Criticism of religion ===
{{See also|Criticism of religion}}
[[File:JSJoseSaramago.jpg|thumb|Author [[José Saramago]] criticizes religion.]]

Some prominent atheists—most recently [[Christopher Hitchens]], [[Daniel Dennett]], [[Sam Harris (author)|Sam Harris]], and [[Richard Dawkins]], and following such thinkers as [[Bertrand Russell]], [[Robert G. Ingersoll]], [[Voltaire]], and novelist [[José Saramago]]—have criticized religions, citing harmful aspects of religious practices and doctrines.<ref>{{harvnb|Harris|2005}}, {{harvnb|Harris|2006}}, {{harvnb|Dawkins|2006}}, {{harvnb|Hitchens|2007}}, {{harvnb|Russell|1957}}</ref>

The 19th-century German political theorist and sociologist [[Karl Marx]] called religion "the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the [[opium of the people]]". He goes on to say, "The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo."<ref>Marx, K. 1976. Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right. Collected Works, v. 3. New York.</ref>

Sam Harris criticizes Western religion's reliance on divine authority as lending itself to [[authoritarianism]] and [[dogma]]tism.{{sfn|Harris|2006a}} There is a correlation between [[religious fundamentalism]] and [[Extrinsic religious orientation|extrinsic religion]] (when religion is held because it serves ulterior interests)<ref name="Moreira-almeida2006">{{cite journal |doi=10.1590/S1516-44462006005000006 |last1=Moreira-almeida |first1=A. |last2=Neto |first2=F. |last3=Koenig |first3=H.G. |year=2006 |title=Religiousness and mental health: a review |journal=Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria |volume=28 |pages=242–250 |pmid=16924349 |issue=3|doi-access=free }}</ref> and authoritarianism, dogmatism, and prejudice.<ref>See for example: {{cite journal |last1=Kahoe |first1=R.D. |date=June 1977 |title=Intrinsic Religion and Authoritarianism: A Differentiated Relationship |journal=Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=179–182 |jstor=1385749 |doi=10.2307/1385749}} Also see: {{cite journal |last1=Altemeyer |first1=Bob |first2=Bruce |last2=Hunsberger |year=1992 |title=Authoritarianism, Religious Fundamentalism, Quest, and Prejudice |journal=[[International Journal for the Psychology of Religion]] |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=113–133 |doi=10.1207/s15327582ijpr0202_5}}</ref>

These arguments—combined with historical events that are argued to demonstrate the dangers of religion, such as the [[Crusades]], [[inquisition]]s, [[Witch-hunt|witch trials]], and [[Religious terrorism|terrorist attacks]]—have been used in response to claims of beneficial effects of belief in religion.<ref>{{cite web |last=Harris |first=Sam |author-link=Sam Harris (author) |title=An Atheist Manifesto |url=http://www.truthdig.com/dig/print/200512_an_atheist_manifesto |access-date=April 9, 2011 |publisher=[[Truthdig]] |year=2005 |quote=In a world riven by ignorance, only the atheist refuses to deny the obvious: Religious faith promotes human violence to an astonishing degree. |ref=none |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516191405/http://www.truthdig.com/dig/print/200512_an_atheist_manifesto |archive-date=May 16, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
Believers counter-argue that some [[state atheism|regimes that espouse atheism]], such as the [[Soviet Union]], have also been guilty of mass murder.<ref name="John S. Feinberg, Paul D. Feinberg">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nl-f5SKq9mgC&pg=PA697 |last1=Feinberg |first1=John S. |author-link1=John S. Feinberg |last2=Feinberg |first2=Paul D. |author-link2=Paul D. Feinberg |title=Ethics for a Brave New World |publisher=[[Greg Koukl|Stand To Reason]] |quote=Over a half century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of old people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: 'Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.' Since then I have spent well-nigh 50 years working on the history of our revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: 'Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.' |access-date=October 18, 2007 |isbn=978-1-58134-712-8 |year=2010}}</ref><ref name="Totalitarianism and Atheism">{{cite web |url=http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/controversy/answering-atheists/answering-atheists-arguments.html |title=Answering Atheist's Arguments |publisher=Catholic Education Resource Center |last=D'Souza |first=Dinesh |author-link=Dinesh D'Souza |access-date=April 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161028215055/http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/controversy/answering-atheists/answering-atheists-arguments.html |archive-date=October 28, 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> In response to those claims, atheists such as Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins have stated that Stalin's atrocities were influenced not by atheism but by dogmatic ideology, and that while Stalin and Mao happened to be atheists, they did not do their deeds in the name of atheism.{{sfn|Dawkins|2006|p=291}}<ref>[http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/harris06/harris06_index.html 10 myths and 10 truths about Atheism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130525005256/http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/harris06/harris06_index.html |date=May 25, 2013 }} Sam Harris</ref><ref>"That does not, however, show that the atrocities committed by these totalitarian dictatorships were the result of atheist beliefs, carried out in the name of atheism, or caused primarily by the atheistic aspects of the relevant forms of communism." {{cite book |last1=Blackford |first1=R. |last2=Schüklenk |first2=U. |title=50 great myths about atheism |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-470-67404-8 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fR1rAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA85 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fR1rAAAAQBAJ |chapter=Myth 27 Many Atrocities Have Been Committed in the Name of Atheism |page=88 |access-date=August 13, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151030203821/https://books.google.com/books?id=fR1rAAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover |archive-date=October 30, 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Atheism, religions and spirituality ===

{{further|Atheism and religion||Nontheistic religions}}

People who self-identify as atheists are often assumed to be [[irreligion|irreligious]], but some sects within major religions reject the existence of a personal, [[creator deity]].<ref name="winston2">{{cite book |editor-last=Winston |editor-first=Robert |title=Human |publisher=New York: DK Publishing, Inc |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-7566-1901-5 |page=299 |quote=Nonbelief has existed for centuries. For example, Buddhism and Jainism have been called atheistic religions because they do not advocate belief in gods.}}</ref> It has been said that atheism is not mutually exclusive with respect to some religious and spiritual belief systems, including modern [[Paganism (contemporary religions)|Neopagan]] movements.<ref name="Neopaganism">{{cite book |editor1-last=Claydon |editor1-first=David |editor2-last=Harper |editor2-first=Anne C. |editor3-last=Morehead |editor3-first=John W. |display-editors=1 |last1=Johnson |first1=Philip |last2=Clifford |first2=Ross |last3=Lewis |first3=Mark |last4=Madsen |first4=Ole Skjerbaek |last5=Morehead |first5=John W. |last6=Mulholland |first6=Ken |last7=Payne |first7=Simeon |last8=Riecke |first8=Christina |last9=Smulo |first9=John |display-authors=1 |date=2005 |title=Religious and Non-Religious Spirituality in the Western World ("New Age") A New Vision, A New Heart, A Renewed Call |volume=2 |publisher=William Carey Library |isbn=978-0-87808-364-0 |page=194 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RfGhUW8RdUIC&q=neopaganism+atheism&pg=PA194 |quote=Although Neo-Pagans share common commitments to nature and spirit there is a diversity of beliefs and practices&nbsp;... Some are atheists, others are polytheists (several gods exist), some are pantheists (all is God) and others are panentheists (all is in God).}}</ref><ref name="Wicca">{{cite book |last=Matthews |first=Carol S. |url=https://archive.org/details/newreligions0000matt |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/newreligions0000matt/page/115 115] |title=New Religions |publisher=Chelsea House Publishers |quote=There is no universal worldview that all Neo-Pagans/Wiccans hold. One online information source indicates that depending on how the term ''God'' is defined, Neo-Pagans might be classified as monotheists, duotheists (two gods), polytheists, pantheists, or atheists. |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-7910-8096-2}}</ref> In recent years, certain religious denominations have accumulated a number of openly atheistic followers, such as [[atheist Jew|atheistic]] or [[humanistic Judaism]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/subdivisions/humanistic.shtml |title=Humanistic Judaism |date=July 20, 2006 |publisher=BBC |access-date=April 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110416143510/http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/subdivisions/humanistic.shtml |archive-date=April 16, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Levin |first=S. |date=May 1995 |title=Jewish Atheism |journal=New Humanist |volume=110 |issue=2 |pages=13–15|title-link=Jewish atheism}}</ref> and [[Christian atheism|Christian atheists]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/atheism/types/christianatheism.shtml |title=Christian Atheism |date=May 17, 2006 |publisher=BBC |access-date=April 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070302051910/http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/atheism/types/christianatheism.shtml |archive-date=March 2, 2007 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Altizer |first=Thomas J.J. |author-link=Thomas J. J. Altizer |title=The Gospel of Christian Atheism |url=http://www.religion-online.org/showbook.asp?title=523 |year=1967 |publisher=London: Collins |pages=102–103 |access-date=April 9, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060929171840/http://www.religion-online.org/showbook.asp?title=523 |archive-date=September 29, 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Lyas |first=Colin |date=January 1970 |title=On the Coherence of Christian Atheism |journal=Philosophy |volume=45 |issue=171 |pages=1–19 |doi=10.1017/S0031819100009578|s2cid=170899306 }}</ref> Atheism is accepted as a valid philosophical position within some varieties of [[Hinduism]], [[Jainism]], and [[Buddhism]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chakravarti |first=Sitansu |title=Hinduism, a way of life |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. |year=1991 |page=71 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J_-rASTgw8wC&pg=PA71 |isbn=978-81-208-0899-7 |quote=According to Hinduism, the path of the atheist is very difficult to follow in matters of spirituality, though it is a valid one. |access-date=April 9, 2011}}</ref>