I’ve heard this claim before that it is not possible for atheists to have “objective moral beliefs” because many moral claims are based on religious authority, which atheists do not believe in.
Thus atheists are subjectivists when it comes to morality: each atheist may disagree with the other about what is moral. Obviously this opens atheists up to problems of disagreements, with some who might believe very conventionally “immoral” things are acceptable for them.
This is not of course to say that atheists may not choose to live lives that are some what “moral” (moral, as is often defined by religions)
So, what’s the status of the idea of “objective morality” and atheism?
I don’t see how moral beliefs based on religious authority could be considered “objective.”
I look at all the splintering of religions that resulted from moral disagreements and differing interpretations of their religious texts and don’t feel inclined to believe that morality derived from religion has any particular value in my world.
This is a slightly different discussion, but there’s nothing to prevent atheists splintering in disagreement as they have no commonly agreements with morality
There’s nothing to prevent religious people of doing the same either, even in the same religion you’ll have disagreements on what’s right or wrong.
You’re assuming that every atheist has a different morality but at the same time assume every believer of one religion have the same one.
Super easy:
Murder is wrong because I don’t have the right to deprive someone of their life.
Theft is wrong because I don’t have the right to goods or services which I did not earn.
I could go on, but there’s no need to bring imaginary beings into morality. In fact, the least moral people appear to be religious.
So to illustrate the point maybe: are you saying atheists are generally in agreement abortion is wrong and that taxation is theft and all governments should be abolished?
Nope, abortion isn’t wrong because a fetus is not a person.
Taxation is not theft because you are, through taxes, contributing to the larger operation of society, from which you are directly benefiting.
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My moral system is based on what benefits me and thus society. The two are closely connected. Therefore if I want to navigate society with ease I try to make it easy to navigate too so someone else will feel better about making it easy to navigate for me.
Being antisocial is not logical because it burns the branch on which I stand. It gets me in trouble, it makes trouble easier to occur for me.
If I need to steal I will but I won’t do it just because. If I need to kill I will but I will hold out for long to seek alternative solution.
I think adhering to society and general morals is very beneficial for us all until the pros outweigh the cons.
Every single person chooses their own morality whether they consciously do it or not.
You can adhere to what you’ve been taught, or you can decide what makes the most sense to to you. And it can be updated and changed over time.
