Monday, June 22, 2009

Atheist Morality and Asimov's Robots

It is said by our theist commentators that we atheists have no morality. That only a belief in god is the only way that a person can be moral. That laws that came from thousands of years ago should guide us in the present time. I wholeheartily disagree with that premise. I believe that morality existed long before religion got its grubby little hands on it. That morality existed in nature and it evolved as a way for social animals to survive as a group.
One example of a god free code of moral conduct was found in the classic of science fiction work called “I-ROBOT” by Isaac Asimov. Asimov, who was also president of the American Humanist Association, and an Atheist, wrote a collection of stories based on The Three Robotic Laws which are as followed : 1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. Each of these stories in that novel dealt with the applications of these laws in various situations. And it ended with a mystery which put forward the question was the subject of the story a robot or a moral human.
Because if you read the laws more broadly it could be an admirable moral code for humans. If you would replace the word robot with the word human you would have a moral code that does not require any god, any divine, heavenly reward or any cruel, hellish punishment. And no large authoritarian organizations to give money too or torture or kill us if we disagreed with them.
This is but one of many examples of how one can have a moral code without a superstitious belief system. How it is more humane and rational than adherence to an outdated and ancient fear based systems. Ultimately it is why we atheists are in a way morally superior to any theist. Because we do good for the sake of being good and not for a selfish afterlife reward.

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