Are Atheists Amoral?

Correspondence Between Shlomoh and Jerald Gould
July 8, 2008


From: Jerald Gould [jagcgb@gmail.com]
To: "Shlomoh Sherman" [kingsolnew@yahoo.com]
Subject: Baruch HaShem--to choose or not to choose--that is the dilemma?
Date: Tuesday, July 8, 2008, 3:25 PM

Hello Shlomoh:
Thanks for all the emails & your lengthy story about
Jesus of Nazarene that you've been sending me.

I notice quite a bit lately on the subject of "Atheists".
I just came acroos a book entitled "50 Reasons People Give For Believing In G-d: by Guy P. Harrison.
I have not read the whole book --just a few chapters at a book store called "Chapters" and I wrote the following down --

"Over the last few thousand years religion has directly motivated far more hatred and violence than atheism.Remember atheism is the absence of belief, nothing more . Many have killed for gods throughout history but few have killed for nothing. Atheists do not reject anyone's gods and do not insult something [that to them] does not exist."

Some well known atheists are:
Ernest Hemmingway, Isaac Asimov, Noam Chomsky, Mark Twain, James D. Watson, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Steven Hawking, Carl Sagan, just to mention a few .

However, and be it what it may, it is one's own personal freedom to choose whatever one wishes to beleive, or to not believe.

Although the above statement may in itself be true, it does not give me an anchor in life to hang on to.

Rabbi Bradly Shavit Artson, Dean of the Zieglker School of Rabbinic studies at the "American Jewish University", where he is vice president and lecturer in philosophy believes otherwise, and I agree with him in so far as the lack of a guiding force in one's life is as if we have no connection to our Creator. That our very being did not happen by random but by an intelligence that we are incapable of comprehending.

A gift given to the Jewish People is the Hebrew language by which all things were created, even before creation as we know it existed. I believe the essence of this conviction is the lack of morality among people, and that with G-D, and only with HASHEM, can the hope of survival for all of mankind continue.  

Sadly though, what we are witnessing in the world today is the complete lack of morality in all phases of life; a loss of morals, ethics and higher standards to live by.

On the Mountain of Moriah what was given to Moses were G-d's Commandments to live by, most of which have sadly fallen by the wayside as we are witnessing. Unfolding before us are the loss of morality, values to live by, and thus the connection with HASHEM.

I have only encapsulated what the Rabbi said, and if you wish, you can go to the American Jewish University website [http://www.ajula.edu] where he expands at length on what he believes. I shall leave this up to you.

Respectfully,
Jerald .


From: "Shlomoh Sherman" [kingsolnew@yahoo.com]
To: Jerald Gould [jagcgb@gmail.com]
Subject: Baruch HaShem--to choose or not to choose--that is the dilemma?
Date: Tuesday, July 8, 2008, 3:25 PM

Jerald, thank you for sending me ths message. Let me respond to certain points.

I am more than happy to make the time to explain my theories to a fellow Jew concerning Jesus the Nazarene, the REAL Jesus, not the mythological character that the Christians pray to.

About atheists.

It is true that atheism does not give us the same TYPE of anchor in life to hold on to that religion does. But the philosophy of atheism is quite different from the philosophy of religion. Atheists look for other anchors in an uncertain and non-contingent universe.

Some atheists invest in other people the same type of love and reverence that religious people invest in their deity. Some atheists put their admiration in the human race as the religious put into their god. Some aheists realize that their time for existing is limited so they try to do the best they can for themselves and others while there is breath left in them. And some atheists are as mindless, inconsiderate, nasty, and hatefull as the best of Christians and Jews and Moslems.

Whether you are an atheist or a believer in deities does not determine whether you are moral or immoral. Our behavior is not motivated by a belief in a god. At best, we may make believe we are good people because we fear a god. For the vast majority of Christians, even fear of a god does not make them act nicely towards their fellow human beings.

In my life, I have come across several Hassidim who actually lived out Love Your Neighbor As Yourself. But most religious Jews and Christians I have met just play act at being "good" people. In fact, they are no better nor worse than many atheists.

A decent atheist will tell you that he acts decently because his LOGIC tells him that the "right" way to act is to cause happiness and avoid suffering in others and himself. That is logical. It has nothing to do with Commandments from above.

The creator of Christianty said that people are basically evil sinners. Yet even in his life, he had to suffer psychic dissonance when he observed people who were obviously saintly acting people.

Religious people love to tell you that atheists have no morals and lead the world to amorality. Religious Jews and Christians are the ones who do that most  - but when Christians do it, they are either illogal or out and out hypocrites. Maybe the latter. If, as they believe, we are miserable sinners and all our good deeds are filthy rags, they should not be surprised when they see their own kind act like pigs while many atheists act responsibly toward society. I will say this. I'd rather be an atheist whose good deeds are filthy rags than an irresponsile Christian whose cynicism and hate for their neighbors are filthy rags.

And that's just what Christianity has produced; 2000 years of generations who are irresponsible.  It means they have no power to respond. It means they don't answer for their crimes against humanity. It means that when you remind them of auto da fes, inquisitions, witch killings,  and the Holocaust, they have no sense of responsibility. All they can say is that "real" Christians didn't do it. Of course, real Xtians did it. The average Nazi was as Christian as they come, and he was the child and grandchild of good Christians.

The people who want to burn Harry Potter, and who want women to die in pregnancy, and who want to kill homosexuals, THEY are the ones to worry about, NOT atheists. If any group of people has led us into a constellation of immorality and lack of morals, it is Irresponsible Christians, often abetted by irresponsible Orthodox Jews.

You say that atheists bring about a bad society. Who was it that brought about the bad society we have now? Who voted twice for a Party that daily kills the poor and aged and disavantaged? Who voted twice for a Party that made it a crime to be poor? Who is actually making it possible for the country to become Democrat for the rest of this century because people are finally getting fed up with Christian tyranny?

Christains have heard their lord say, "To him that hath much, more will be added. And to him that hath little, even the little he hath shall be taken away from him." And they have said, RIGHT ON, lord! Even if it means voting for people who will chush us into the ground,so long as no one gets to live a decent life, - RIGHT ON!  

Most atheists that I know want all people treated decently no matter what their sexual orientation is, want a woman to have a say over her own life, want people to earn a FAIR wage, not the wage that Christians pay, want poor people not to have to worry about going to the hospital. Most Christians I know want the opposite. Love your neighbor as yourself? That's what most atheists do. I can't say the same for the other side.

So don't worry, Jerald. Atheists are not the ones leading us down to hell. It's the ones that warn you MOST about HELL that are doing it.

Jerald, I'm always happy to hear from you even though we have different ideas about life. KAWL YISRAEL CHAVERIM!

Shlomoh


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