Nontheism / Atheism

I was going to stay away from discussion of religion for a while but Mark Steyn has provoked my typing fingers again.

In this week’s issue of The Spectator he writes an article entitled ‘O come, all ye faithless’ and makes the single most common error of monotheists. Apparently it is “hard to deny that the fear of an afterlife where one will be judged has likely kept hundreds of millions from committing acts of aggression”.

To that I would say “Maybe in the past”. A modern rationalist would not deliberately destroy the atmosphere for the next generation whether they are childless of not. A moral person is not necessarily a religious person, and certainly not necessarily someone who worships a monotheistic God. Take ten Christians, ten Muslims, ten Jews and ten Hindus and I would guess (oh, politically incorrect stereotype coming, sorry) that the ten Hindus would have more grounded, rational and laudable morals.

Steyn then describes the optimism of the relatively religious US (61% were optimistic about the future a year after 9/11) against the pessimism of the relatively secular Canada (43%), the UK (42%), France (29%), Russia (23%) and Germany (15%). But these figures show other truths. France, Russia and Germany all suffer from economic malhealth which could account for a large proportion, and maybe pessimism is more healthy than an irrational faith in a better future?

Apparently nontheists are less motivated than monoethestic religious people too, but there’s no evidence of that. Rationalism does not necessarily make someone immoral or allow someone to behave in a less considerate manner. I am worried that humanity may need to believe in divine punishment in order to do good - I hope it is not true, and I doubt it is.


Posted In: Religion, Spectator