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Many atheists base their moral code upon emotion, experience and empirically derived ethics, such as those promoted by secular humanism. Atheists hold that the Bible cannot be our source of morality as it contains countless calls for immoral behavior such as the Israelites driving out heathen nations from Canaan, stoning homosexuals and adulterers to death, and the institution of slavery.
Many atheists base their moral code upon emotion, experience and empirically derived ethics, such as those promoted by secular humanism. Atheists hold that the Bible cannot be our source of morality as it contains countless calls for immoral behavior such as the Israelites driving out heathen nations from Canaan, stoning homosexuals and adulterers to death, and the institution of slavery.
The atheist rejection of a god or gods and consequent rejection of religiously based moral codes creates a logical problem for atheists wishing to assert a moral code of their own. Without divine approval for one moral code over all others it becomes logically difficult to argue that one code is superior to all others. One form of response is illustrated in the following quote from [[Albert Einstein]]:
:“A man’s ethical behaviour should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death”.
Atheists often subscribe to the secular humanist idea that it is far more ethical to do what is right simply because you feel that it's right, rather than because you fear divine punishment.
Atheists often subscribe to the secular humanist idea that it is far more ethical to do what is right simply because you feel that it's right, rather than because you fear divine punishment.
The common argument that Nazism and Stalinism were atheistic in nature and that their violence stemmed from that nature ignores more recent examples of what they actually were; Personality cults. Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, and more recently despots like Kim Jong Il and Fidel Castro were or are at the center of governments which enforce reverence unto them as though they were deities.
The common argument that Nazism and Stalinism were atheistic in nature and that their violence stemmed from that nature ignores more recent examples of what they actually were; Personality cults. Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, and more recently despots like Kim Jong Il and Fidel Castro were or are at the center of governments which enforce reverence unto them as though they were deities.
== Origins ==
It is difficult to trace the origins of atheism as a result of the incomplete historic record. It is known that ancient Greece produced a theory of materialism as early as the 5th century BC. The materialist world view was essentially mathematical and had no room for gods.
The materialist Epicurus (341-270 BC) pointed out the difficulty created by evil:
:Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
:Is he able, but not willing? then he is malevolent.
:Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
:Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?
== Atheism and Agnosticism ==
Atheism and agnosticism are logically distinct concepts. Whilst atheist reject the existence of a god or gods, agnostics do not do so. [[Richard Dawkins]] has contrasted the two positions as follows:
:“There may be fairies at the bottom of the garden. There is no evidence for it, but you can’t prove that there aren’t any, so shouldn’t we be agnostic with respect to fairies?”.
==References==
==References==
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