Critical Exponent

Here’s a good defense of atheism:

Fundamentalists do what they perceive as good deeds in order to fulfill God’s will and to earn salvation; atheists do them simply because it is the right thing to do. Is this also not our most elementary experience of morality? When I do a good deed, I do so not with an eye toward gaining God’s favor; I do it because if I did not, I could not look at myself in the mirror. A moral deed is by definition its own reward. David Hume, a believer, made this point in a very poignant way, when he wrote that the only way to show true respect for God is to act morally while ignoring God’s existence.

In a world where humanity is so content to hurt and marginalize others in God’s name, theists would do well to take note.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 14th, 2006 at 11:05 am and is filed under Fundamentalism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.