“Re: Right and Wrong in Atheism - Godless Morality?”

I am atheistic by choice. I was raised with some religion, but never attended church regularly. As I grew older, it became more and more implausible to me that some higher power, some man in the sky had created the Earth and everything on it. I thought about God the same way I thought about Zeus, and about the Bible in the same way I considered Greek Myths. Yes, they were at one point important and gave reasons for the way things were. But humans evolved out of that mindset, and I grew out of religion. I no longer needed "God did it" to explain the mysteries of the world.

Now, that is not to say that I became entirely heathenistic. I was engrained from a very young age with a sense of right and wrong, but not in a religious way. My parents instilled in me a strong conscience, and I never needed to be threatened with brimstone and hellfire to make me behave appropriately. I merely was taught that there were right and wrong, and that I should follow my heart and not be led astray by peers or enemies.

I think, personally, that this is a greater acheivement; to behave well of my own choice instead of being forced to by some higher power.