Dostoevsky famously said "Without God everything is permitted." This I believe is true and has been proven so. This is not to say that all atheists are amoral people, it is to say that everything is permitted, meaning there is nothing to stop someone from doing something immoral. This, in my opinion, is a complex problem for atheists. Its not how or why people are moral and just without God but why be moral or just without God? There is no reason to be good if you are a self serving person who rejects God. With God there is a sense of justice and moral purpose that is lacking in the atheist model. Why be a good person if there is no justification for it? If I want to make millions and I have to hurt people along the way, what is stopping me from doing so in a world without God?
I suggest that if God is not in fact real, as I believe He is, then faith is an evolutionary advantage developed some time with our conciousness and self awareness to keep us in check morally. We see what happens, say, in Soviet Russia when the leadership is not only atheistic but against all forms of religion, a blood bath ensued. Why? Because as Dostoevsky says "Without God everything is permitted." There was nothing stopping Stalin from massacring people because to him there was nothing wrong in doing so. He was in a sense his own god, making his own rules and own morality and therefore everything he did was permitted. There are numerous examples that highlight this fact, which makes abandoning God a very scary prospect.
If this is true then at some point we will evolve beyond religion, right? I supposed it is all entirely possible that we somehow evolve to a point in which we will not need religion or God, but the problem is not what will make us be moral it is why be moral? We all know what is right and wrong wether or not we believe in God, so why be moral if there is no God? I suppose there is a scientific answer for this as to how we could evolve to that point but right now I think it is safe to say it is good to believe in God, both spiritually and scientifically. I say we wait and see if we actually do evolve past this point. If evolution is true then we will. We will evolve beyond this and still be dedicated to being moral and just, despite the absence of God.
I assert that we will not evolve beyond this point because I believe we are created as spiritual beings and therefore we will inevitably be spiritual for the rest of our existence. I suppose there will be many people who say we are evolving, but being an atheist does not mean you are evolving to this state, it means you are an atheist. An evolution would be a collective change from one state to the next. But I assume that many will try and use the rise of atheism as justification for an alleged evolution of the human from religious to irreligious.
I suggest that if God is not in fact real, as I believe He is, then faith is an evolutionary advantage developed some time with our conciousness and self awareness to keep us in check morally. We see what happens, say, in Soviet Russia when the leadership is not only atheistic but against all forms of religion, a blood bath ensued. Why? Because as Dostoevsky says "Without God everything is permitted." There was nothing stopping Stalin from massacring people because to him there was nothing wrong in doing so. He was in a sense his own god, making his own rules and own morality and therefore everything he did was permitted. There are numerous examples that highlight this fact, which makes abandoning God a very scary prospect.
If this is true then at some point we will evolve beyond religion, right? I supposed it is all entirely possible that we somehow evolve to a point in which we will not need religion or God, but the problem is not what will make us be moral it is why be moral? We all know what is right and wrong wether or not we believe in God, so why be moral if there is no God? I suppose there is a scientific answer for this as to how we could evolve to that point but right now I think it is safe to say it is good to believe in God, both spiritually and scientifically. I say we wait and see if we actually do evolve past this point. If evolution is true then we will. We will evolve beyond this and still be dedicated to being moral and just, despite the absence of God.
I assert that we will not evolve beyond this point because I believe we are created as spiritual beings and therefore we will inevitably be spiritual for the rest of our existence. I suppose there will be many people who say we are evolving, but being an atheist does not mean you are evolving to this state, it means you are an atheist. An evolution would be a collective change from one state to the next. But I assume that many will try and use the rise of atheism as justification for an alleged evolution of the human from religious to irreligious.
