About 42% of Americans believe that it is necessary to believe in a God in order to be moral. 1 This number is down from 49% in 2011. Atheists are the least-trusted group (stratified by belief) in America, less trusted than Muslims, Jews, or Christians. There is not now, and has never been, an openly atheist member of Congress. In fact, to admit to not being a church-goer is a kiss of death in American politics.
He sees you…
Phil Robertson, of Duck Dynasty fame, made this speech at a prayer breakfast: “Two guys break into an atheist’s home. He has a little atheist wife and two little atheist daughters. Two guys break into his home and tie him up in a chair and gag him. And then they take his two daughters in front of him and rape both of them and then shoot them and they take his wife and then decapitate her head off in front of him. And then they can look at him and say, ‘Isn’t it great that I don’t have to worry about being judged? Isn’t it great that there’s nothing wrong with this? There’s no right or wrong, now is it dude?’” 2 Apparently this is Robertson’s conception of morality: to behave properly because of fear of retribution. Without that fear, there is no morality.
This is the morality of the child. The desire to behave in a moral fashion because of fear of retribution in the form of Heavenly judgement is no different from a child ‘s response to “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”. 3 Morality motivated by self-interest is not morality at all.
Adult morality
The morality of the adult is motivated by empathy: the recognition that another’s pain is in some way equivalent to our own. This has been very succinctly codified in the words of Jesus of Nazareth: “Love thy neighbor as thyself”, and in the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. Religious belief is completely unnecessary for a person to possess empathy. In fact, belief may even be a disincentive: atheists believe that we are all we’ve got, and now is the only time we have. There is no quick fix in the form of absolution. There are no virgins waiting in Paradise after a lifetime of cruel and immoral acts. 4
There are, of course, adults that do not possess empathy. We call them “psychopaths”. Which brings me to…
Where does empathy come from?
How can we encourage the development of empathy in our children?
I suspect that, unfortunately, the only way is by example. I say “unfortunately” because children are exposed to examples both of empathy, and of blind self-interest, in their development. Parents are, of course, the most profound source of example for children in their first few years, but are soon supplanted by peers, media, and teachers. Perhaps there is a “critical mass” effect, that if children are surrounded primarily by “good example”, they will model this behavior themselves, but if not, they will be motivated only by self-interest. I worry that the critical mass may have been lost in our society.
One last thought
To be completely honest, it is necessary to recognize that our society is suffused with Judeo-Christian thought and ethics; it is the water in which we swim. 5 It is, I think, impossible to separate out this influence on the developing child. Perhaps this faith-based milieu is partly responsible for the development of adult morality. 6 Or perhaps the Santa Claus morality is all that a child can respond to, at first. I would be interested in hearing thoughts on this.
- This is astounding to me, considering the number of ostensibly religious people that are devoid of morality…but I digress; that is why this is a footnote.
- Classy guy.
- A very creepy song, by the way.
- What is this obsession with “virgins”, anyway? Reminds me uncomfortably of Roy Moore and his ilk.
- Not to be confused with Judeo-Christian law, which is rightly kept separate from our secular law.
- Again, based on the behavior of many so-called “religious” figures, many of whom are in the public sphere, I think this point is debatable.