Atheists & Agnostics
Related: About this forumSigh...the next time a person asks me (after finding out I'm an Atheist)...
"What keeps you from killing or doing anything you want"
I'm going to reach over, whisper in their ear and say ",,,nothing...absolutely nothing"
Warpy
(111,255 posts)I throw it right back in their faces, that if the only reason they're not preying on their fellow humans is because of their fear of some invisible sky daddy, it doesn't say much about them as human beings.
BlueJazz
(25,348 posts): )
I'm kidding, I'm kidding
TxDemChem
(1,918 posts)Over the weekend. I think it was Penn who said that he has already raped and killed everyone that he wanted to...which is nobody.
NastyRiffraff
(12,448 posts)Good answer. I get the question all the time and I've answered with the evolutionary benefits of cooperation in society, but many of those people don't believe in evolution.
Warpy
(111,255 posts)at pulling the underpinnings out from under the religiously superior.
PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)BlueStreak
(8,377 posts)I wish somebody WOULD ask me that one. The answer is simple. (Most) humans have evolved to want to be part of a society, and a society needs rules and boundaries to be successful. Even the cave men didn't often kill other humans. Unfortunately there are many among us who aren't even as evolved as the cave men. And many of them believe in gods.
LostOne4Ever
(9,288 posts)I would probably say "Are you saying that the only thing keeping you from killing people right now is some fairy tale? Listen buddy, you have serious problems and need to talk to a professional ASAP."
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frogmarch
(12,153 posts)haha! I am so going to use that.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)Not in the ear. You have to hold their gaze when you say it. Unblinking. Lean into it.
BlueJazz
(25,348 posts)Brainstormy
(2,380 posts)a very dear friend asked me, quite sincerely, why anyone who didn't believe in eternal punishment would be "moral." She was convinced that it's the fear of hellfire that keeps us from ripping each other's throats out on whim. All my reasonable arguments failed. The only avenue that seemed to have any effect on her was my offering up the idea that Jews, as a general rule, don't subscribe to the idea of Hell and yet form a very tiny contingent of the populations on Death Row. (She plays Mah Jong with some very nice people.)
whatever.
Curmudgeoness
(18,219 posts)"I guess that I must be a better person than you, because I can be good without fear of hell." It usually shuts them up, especially if they know me because they know that I am not a bad person.
But I kind of like your idea, just once, just for fun. The question does get old.
dimbear
(6,271 posts)Could it be nature?
DavidDvorkin
(19,475 posts)dorkulon
(5,116 posts)"And if you need the threat of eternal hellfire to prevent you from committing such acts, you're not."