Let’s see if we can offer a detailed answer – but let’s define a few things first.
I expect this conversation will delve into the realm of morality – so let’s define morality first of all. The Oxford Dictionary defines morality as ‘Principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behaviour.’ I think it’s fair to say that to most people of any religious (or non-religious) persuasion, murder is wrong and is obviously ‘bad behaviour’. The same would apply to rape, theft, etc.
The religious believe these ideals arose through divine inspiration – God imbued humanity with these values which would not exist without God – and they will cite examples of atheists committing murder as reasoning to support this. This represents the broad brushstroke (aka stereotyping) that rather ignores the considerable number of atheists who obviously don’t go around committing murder. As with all things, there is a spectrum – no two Christians or Muslims are alike – the same is true for atheists.
How do atheists derive morality? Look at human evolution and what benefits us as a species. We seek strength and security in numbers. We seek stability and community. We are social animals. What helps the community and keeps it healthy/strong helps the individual too. Things that disrupt that – such as murder – are the antithesis of what we have evolved to value. It goes against our instincts to want to harm another human being.
There will always be people who, for whatever reasoning (be it their upbringing, be it a chemical imbalance in their biology, or dare I say it, be it social conditioning from a variety of sources) who don’t share a sense of community or ‘belonging’. These people can come from all sorts of backgrounds. Please don’t tar all atheists with the same brush, lest you wish for the same to be done in reverse.
Blogging Theology 
Good question.
Didn’t Dahmer become a Christian after he went to prison?
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Google it?
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Let’s see if we can offer a detailed answer – but let’s define a few things first.
I expect this conversation will delve into the realm of morality – so let’s define morality first of all. The Oxford Dictionary defines morality as ‘Principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behaviour.’ I think it’s fair to say that to most people of any religious (or non-religious) persuasion, murder is wrong and is obviously ‘bad behaviour’. The same would apply to rape, theft, etc.
The religious believe these ideals arose through divine inspiration – God imbued humanity with these values which would not exist without God – and they will cite examples of atheists committing murder as reasoning to support this. This represents the broad brushstroke (aka stereotyping) that rather ignores the considerable number of atheists who obviously don’t go around committing murder. As with all things, there is a spectrum – no two Christians or Muslims are alike – the same is true for atheists.
How do atheists derive morality? Look at human evolution and what benefits us as a species. We seek strength and security in numbers. We seek stability and community. We are social animals. What helps the community and keeps it healthy/strong helps the individual too. Things that disrupt that – such as murder – are the antithesis of what we have evolved to value. It goes against our instincts to want to harm another human being.
There will always be people who, for whatever reasoning (be it their upbringing, be it a chemical imbalance in their biology, or dare I say it, be it social conditioning from a variety of sources) who don’t share a sense of community or ‘belonging’. These people can come from all sorts of backgrounds. Please don’t tar all atheists with the same brush, lest you wish for the same to be done in reverse.
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