Many of you have heard the study that found that Atheists were the group that Americans thought least shared their views for America of any other group.
Clearly in parts of America there is strong dislike towards Atheists. One reason I have commonly heard cited for this is that people believe that morals cannot exist without religion to back it up.
I believe this claim is blatently heinous. One terriffic set of examples to disprove this claim by theists that atheists are immoral are the works of Peter Singer. If you are unfamiliar with his work, he has published numerous books including:
Practical Ethics in which he "analyzes in detail why and how beings' interests should be weighed. His principle of equal consideration of interests does not dictate equal treatment of all those with interests, since different interests warrant different treatment."
(source) He is most famous for publishing
Animal Liberation, which I have personally read, in which Singer goes beyond traditional Western morals to account for the prinicpal that we should take into account the suffering of all creatures that can suffer in our actions and not just those of humans. Singer is also a well-respected and influential atheist.
For anyone who has heard the claims by theists that morality is impossible without religion or who believes them themselves, how can you continue to defend this claim? Will you in the future, when you hear these claims, cite to others that they are false?
Morals Cannot Exist Without Religion?
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