A-theist is not A-moral

I’m an atheist and a very staunch atheist at that.

But does that make me a bad person?

This discussion is about some of the comment in the media and through the community which deals with atheism. It’s come to a head in Australia recently with the new Prime Minister Julia Gillard ‘outing’ herself as an atheist.

For most average people, even people of religion, that really isn’t a huge issue. But there is a group of people who concern me greatly. The ones who think religion has a monopoly on morals and ethics.

Over the years I have read thousands of newspapers and letters to the editor and listened to a lifetime of talkback radio.

So many times I’ve read and heard that atheists are just bad people devoid of morals.

Narrow minded people even criticise atheists for ‘stealing’ morals from Christian values, claiming that all atheists get their sense of right and wrong from the bible but just refuse to admit it.

During Easter this year some of the Catholic cardinals made insulting comments about atheists that we are all in a “lonely, evil and amoral state of being.”

That’s a big call from someone who’s never met me.

Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Peter Jensen even said atheism is just another religion. If that doesn’t show a severe lack of understanding of what a religion is I don’t know what does.

Incidentally a religion is defined as a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe when considered as the creation by a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances.

That’s NOT atheism.

Ask me about my devotion to Collingwood and I might admit that’s a bit more like religion for me – any football fan of any code understands that!

Atheism results from a reasoned assessment that there is no credible scientific or factually reliable evidence for the existence of any god. It doesn’t come with the baggage of indoctrination.

Interestingly I was raised in a Catholic home, went to Catholic schools and had many deep and stimulating conversations on atheism and religion with my grandmother, an extremely devout Catholic. At no stage in my youth did I feel any connection with religion (sometimes to my detriment as some of the nuns could wield a metre-long blackboard ruler like ObiWan Kenobe wields a lightsaber and have World Darts Champion accuracy when hurling a piece of chalk from the front of the class).

At this stage I should point out that I’m not criticising religions – to each his own as long as they leave me alone. There’s almost nothing worse than an extremist. Those who are rude and extremist in their defence of atheism are no better than those with extremist religious views, whatever the religion.

If you are happy in your religion, then who am I to tell you otherwise. It’s just not for me.

But, time and time again I get told religion is where I get my ethics and morals from.

This is not true.

A quick check of basic anthropology will shatter this myth that morals and ethics are solely the domain of religion. Religions have their own codes – but they arose from wide human anthropological and societal evolution and development. Not the other way round.

Let me show you.

Research from evolutionary biologists, socio-biologists and anthropologists shows morality is the product of the forces acting on individuals and groups which lead to improved outcomes for survival.

Science has shown that well before any form of religion began to show signs of appearing, humans evolved pro-social behaviours like empathy and guilt and ideological unity. These behaviours in our early ancestors allowed the development of sophisticated social structures fostering cooperation, which went on to support the continued path to civilisation.

I’m talking in timeframes of the 200-thousand to 2.5 million year period. Even early hominids like Homo erectus and Australopithecines lived in social groups which can only work with framework of what we now call morals. This is well before any concept of religion, however primitive, began to exhibit.

The science even demonstrates other social animals (from the very small like ants and termites to the complex cultures in elephant groups) show similar ‘moral’ behaviours to benefit their own societies. More highly evolved animals like elephants clearly demonstrate ‘morals’ by restraining selfishness to benefit the group.

We do the same. It’s essentially an evolved behaviour which sees each of us restrict excessive individualistic behaviour to benefit the social group.

When you consider the number of people who actually commit serious crime like random unprovoked murder, incest etc – the percent of the population in miniscule.

Think of some basic human behaviours like our distaste for incest. Does that come from a religious context or because from an evolutionary point of view it’s a bad genetic choice?

Avoiding conflict is a commonsense behaviour because it reduces the risks of injuries to individuals and groups and promotes cooperation – all goes to better survival chances in the environments in which we evolved.

Is sharing and caring for others less fortunate than ourselves from a religious background? Or is it derived from the concept of highly successful individuals making small sacrifices for the benefit of the group.

Vampire bats die if they don’t feed in a 24 hour period. They have a behaviour where if a bat hasn’t been able to feed for whatever reason, a bat which has fed successfully will seek the other out and regurgitate some of its meal.

The science has shown a reciprocal behaviour exists which means these bats remember “favours” from others and help out when the bat which helped it before may not have fed.

Bats are not religious, they just have behaviours which have been inherited through selective processes for the greatest positive outcome for the species.

The increase in the size of the human brain coupled with more complex society means our ‘morals’ are more intricate than those of other species, but they derive from the natural environment and not from any religion.

Religion may be a modern way we manipulate these behaviours and manage community controls and societal punishments, but religion is not where these behaviours originated.

I get my sense of right and wrong, my generosity and empathy, my guilt, a sense of fairness and justice, my ability to play social politics from my genetic inheritance – which is the same place you got yours.

People of religion please take note: I’m an atheist and I’m not a bad person. Please pack away your narrow-minded, dogmatic, ill-informed and indoctrinated judgement for the wider societal good – just as your genes would have it.