So I was at my local chapters book store today,and something happened that surprisingly has happened to me more then once. In fact, I would say this has to be the 7th or 8th time this has happened to me.

So, if you know anything about me, where will you find me in a bookstore?

Either in the philosophy/psychology section or the science section (witch, as funny as it is, is right next to all of the pseudoscience bull-spit) of the store. Enjoying all of the wondrous literature, in my mind, a montage is happening. If you can picture this, a Kaleidoscopic of Carl Sagan, Steven Pinker, Sam Harris, Daniel H Dennett, Daniel kahneman, Richard Dawkins, Steven hawking etc... and the song 'she has funny cars' by Jefferson Airplane playing in the background. When all of a sudden, the montage stops by a record scratch....

What is this metaphorical DJ doing stopping this comedic scene playing in my twisted mind? It's no other...then a fundamentalist...oh boy, here we go....

Now, before I get a ton of negative comments from the pony's I love, let me give a little Forewarning. This article is targeted at pony's who literally don't know why people would be/are atheists. In no way am I attacking anypony's religion, because that's not really going to shine atheism in the light i want it in.

So anyway, back to the book store. I picked up Jean-Paul Sartre's 'Being and Nothingness'(By the way, get ready for an article on this book. So far it's amazing) and flipped through the table of contents. All of a sudden, a voice broke my concentration.

"What'cha holden there?" said a lady, I want to estimate in her early 40's. She smelt of cigarettes and over powering perfume that I detected before I turned around. The voice was in close proximity, so I gave my attention, because usually I ignore the rest of the world, but this woman was clearly talking to me.

"Oh, its a book on existentialism" I answered "Sartre was an amazing post war era thinker, have you read anything of his?"

In her defense, I should have took a different approach since my response was negate of sincerity . I mostly asked her because I knew the answer would be no, but what's done is done. She gave an honest anwser

"Oh heavens no, I wouldn't read anything in this section of the store"

Well why in the world are you over here then you goon! Was a real thought of mine, but my lovely frontal lobes saved me from saying anything stupid, as always. I was just having a gruelingly slow day and the traffic going to the city was nasty. But aside from my internal negativity, I just grumbled and said "oh" as too leave the context of her conversation I returned to my book, when she added that "These books are for dirty immoral atheists"

Now that was just uncalled for! Keep in mind I really wish this wasn't verbatim but how dare I lie to my blog readers? I felt insulted, and even questioned if I should. So i retorted with

"Ma'am, there's nothing wrong with atheists, its all different sides of the same religious coin". In retrospective, I should have said something else because it sounded like I was implying that atheism is a religion. That's a popular misconception, it's like off off was a T.V channel.

But I digress, our fundie replied with "Oh you must be one of em then eh?"

One of them eh? There's no better way to express discrimination is there?

"Loud and proud ma'am" was the only thing I could say that didn't start a verbal fight.

Finally, our fundie friend just pouted and walked away. I think I handled the situation fine, in a peaceful manner, but what I really wanted to say would have made atheists look no more moral than I try to make them out to be.

So, with that little story in your skull, lets discus the topic subject. Why atheism?

I've heard that people question atheism because of the apparent "lack of moral principles". In essence, if your a theist (one who believes in a deity) then your moral views come from your religion. For a religious person, another person who does not share there view of religion, or no religion at all, is void of morals. And I can vouch for that thought process, since I used to believe in god, heavily.

But how true is that line of reasoning? I mean is religion the only thing that can grant morals to a person?

I doubt it, and here's why.

Religion, for comparative reasons, is like magic. In that context, for all you religious pony's out there, I'm not trying to conclude that "religion is fake", because that would be a false statement. Religions are real social entity's that exist as abstract concepts of thought, and there ideals are real, but more on that latter.

Religion and magic have a lot in common when it comes to the people who are attracted to them. Now I assume (and hope) that most people, excluding children of course, that go to watch a magic show know that the magic isn't real magic. These are common muggles who are willing to pay $20 or whatever to view spectacular feats of illusion. But the fun part of magic is the "How'd he do that!" factor. Religion has the same factor, relating to morality and creation.

Now the key to magic is not to reveal the secret. Religion, even though it is counter intuitive, has the same attitude towards morality and creation. The circular biblical logic sets in and your running around telling people god is real because the bible says so because god wrote it because hes real because the bible says so, ad infinitum. So to avoid that, most religious people get the same reaction for, when example, and explanation for evolution is given. Its like a "Oh! Don't tell me that! I want to be under the illusion, if you tell me how the trick is done, I will never feel the same spectacle again".

And this reaction is key. Religious people believe that atheists, who are void of god, know how the trick is done and don't "feel the spectacle" of the illusion of morality. But the fact of the matter is, you can be moral and an atheist.

Before I explain, let me raise a question. So, religion is what gives someone there morals. Okay, but people who don't follow religion automatically fall under Thomas Hobbes state of nature, where all morals are flushed down the drain? So you'r saying that, if you spontaneously lost faith for whatever reason, you would start killing, raping, and pillaging?

After you have thought about that, lets see what morals are. To be morally good, in a nutshell, is not not cause harm or discomfort you yourself and others, and to promote a sense of peace and well being. Now, if your an atheist reading this, you might think that I will reason that morals are a social Darwinian tool for the process of gene propagation, but I wont. I've learned that morals consist of more then that, and science shouldn't be so lazy as to always just explain everything in human nature as "oh! Darwinism ". What a cheep shot.

Morality does stem from our biological origins, but let's take a different perspective. The concept of the self and the ego, we see as separate from the external reality of our body's. Our consciousnesses you can say, is an abstract theme that exists in the midst of our world, and physical things, like rocks, exist in the world itself. Morals are exactly the same, but whats different is that the concept of morals come from the existence of consciousness. Without the internal voices of our thought processes, morality wouldn't exist, and we would be in Hobbes state of nature.

So morals are pretty handy. Being altruistic and peaceful benefits everybody, to certain extents of course. If I saved you from drowning, but I have asthma, then the benefits are mostly in your favor But if i get recognition for saving a life, that's a social benefit I get (or physical, like a cash reward, etc). That's essentially what morals are, "I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine".

But we don't just practice morals so we can get recognition, or we shouldn't anyway. Actually holding morals, like the common ones found in the old testament, should be a no brainier. The people who murder are most likely psychologically disturbed or feel that they are in a life or death situation. But self defense only goes so far, its still immoral to kill in any instance. No matter how you slice it(pun sort of intended).

The expression "treat others as you would want to be treated" is a pretty good explanation for morals too. When you break your finger, your likely reaction is "OW, FU*K THAT HURT!". So if you can mentally simulate that pain, either if you have broken a figure in the past or not, if you are moral you would not want to express that sort of pain on another person. You don't even have to put too much thought on that. But when your infuriated, you might say something like "God I just wanna break that kids figure!".

So our emotions have huge impacts on morals too. But,staying on the whole "no religion=no morals" argument, is it really logical to conclude that,even though we are all mostly inclined to be moral without trying, religion is still the ultimate definition of morality?

Atheists are very moral, not all, but most. Everyone is different, Hitler was in fact a Christian, And Carl Sagan was an atheist. I hear more fundies say that Carl Sagan was evil, versus Hitler (not in comparison, just in general). I would say that Carl Sagan was extremely moral compared to Hitler though, no duh! He was one sick pony!

So, sorry for the scatterbrained typing here, this article wasn't planned out or anything, I just thought i'd share my experience and thoughts. If this article isn't concise, I can elaborate further. But for the most part,in conclusion, Morals exist in human culture, religion or no religion. Its a totally separate social entity from religion, even though they can be related in the subject matter of personal beliefs.

And ONE MORE TIME I'm not trashing on religion, just trying to inform the curious. I have a lot of religious friends who could give less of a crap what I say about religion because there not crazy fundies, but they love Jesus so whatever. I don't care what you believe whatever floats your boat. As long as there peace involved, always and forever.

~FluttershyForPeace

Got a question that you think is too touchy a subject? Well PM me and I will give my honest opinion and analysis. Keep in mind though that anything too controversial or offensive will not be posted. Peace and love guys, peace and love!