Why Atheism is not Immoral.
	"Although atheism is negative in character ("A" - no, "Theos" - god), it need not be destructive.  When used to eradicate superstition and its detrimental effects, atheism is a benevolent, constructive approach.  It clears the air, as it were, leaving the door open for positive principles and philosophies based, not on the supernatural, but on man's ability to think and comprehend.  Religion has had the disastrous effect of placing vitally important concepts, such as morality, happiness and love, in a supernatural realm inaccessible to man's mind and knowledge.  Morality and religion have become so intertwined that many people cannot conceive of ethics divorced from god, even in principle - which leads to the assumption and misconception that the atheist is out to destroy values. Atheism, however, is not the destruction of morality; it is the destruction of supernatural morality. Likewise, atheism is not the destruction of happiness and love; it is the destruction of the idea that happiness and love can be achieved only in another world. Atheism brings these ideas down to earth, within the reach of man's mind.  What he does with them after this point is a matter of choice.  If he discards them in favor of pessimism and nihilism, the responsibility lies with him, not with atheism.  By severing any possible appeal to the supernatural - which in terms of human knowledge, means the unknowable - atheism demands that issues be dealt with through reason and human understanding; they cannot be sloughed-off onto a mysterious god. Reason is the faculty that enables man to identify and integrate the facts of reality. A rational person’s foremost concern is with facts, with what is true, and he is unwilling to sacrifice the judgment of his mind to the demands or desires of other people.  Intellectually, each person is an island unto themself; no person can assume the responsibility of thinking for another.  The virtue of rationality thus entails intellectual independence and the willingness to assume responsibility for one's beliefs, choices and actions. While the content of Christian ethics has varied throughout history, this principle has remained unchanged: God is the master, man is the slave- and the fundamental characteristic of a slave is that he is not permitted, under the threat of force, to act according to his own judgment.  But the Christian God far surpasses the capabilities of any human slave-master, for he can monitor, not only the actions of men, but their thoughts and feelings as well.  The Christian God can, and does, command how man should think and feel... "...If you see the word "moral" as meaning "obeying god's laws" then, yes, atheists are amoral. However, if you see it as meaning a distinction between what's right and what's wrong, between what is acceptable and unacceptable in society, then atheists are as moral as anyone else. Similarly, compassion, love, the urge to care, etc, are not the preserve of the religious: they are innate human characteristics... "...If people want knowledge, they must think for themselves. Not have a religious book such as the Bible, think FOR them... "...If a person wants success, he or she must work.  If person wants happiness, he or she must strive to achieve it.  The theist considers a godless world to be a terrifying prospect; the atheist experiences it as self-reliance... "...If there is a uniform theme throughout the Bible, it is that God must be obeyed, period.  If God commands worship, man must worship. If God commands love, man must love. If God commands tap dancing, man must tap dance. If god commands murder, man must murder... "...It must be remembered that, whereas faith may have inspired acts of courage, it has also inspired moral atrocities.  The Christian Inquisitor burning a heretic at the stake was as much a man of faith as the Christian martyr. Whether their consequences are beneficial or harmful, acts of faith are united by their submission to an authoritative moral code.  God demanded of the early Christians that they refuse to submit to state decrees, and they sacrificed themselves in obedience to his will.  God demanded of the medieval Christians that they eradicate heresy, and they sacrificed others in obedience to his will.  Men praise the former as acts of courage and condemn the latter as moral atrocities, but the underlying principles in each case are identical: passive obedience to moral rules.  When a politician asks people to have faith in their government, it is clear that he is calling for obedience and the suspension of means that divine rules are to be obeyed without question.  The man who seeks truth calls on reason; the man who seeks conformity calls on faith.  A morality of independence relies on reason; a morality of obedience relies on faith... "...I choose morality of independence based on reason rather than morality of obedience. Appreciate fully the ruthless consistency of primary Christian virtues - such as humility, self-sacrifice and a sense of sin-which, without exception, are geared to the destruction of man's inner sense of dignity, efficacy and personal worth.  It is not accidental that Christianity regards pride as a major sin.  A man of self-esteem is an unlikely candidate of the master-slave relationship that Christianity offers him.  A man lacking in self-esteem, however, a man ridden with guilt and self-doubt, will frequently prefer the apparent security of Christianity over independence and find comfort in the thought that, for the price of total submissiveness, God will love and protect them.      In exchange for obedience, Christianity promises salvation in an afterlife; but in order to elicit obedience through this promise, Christianity must convince men that they need salvation, that there is something to be "saved" from.  Christianity has nothing to offer a happy man living in a natural, intelligible universe.  If Christianity is to gain a motivational foothold, it must declare war on earthly pleasure and happiness, and this, historically, has been the precise course of action.           In the eyes of Christianity, man is sinful and helpless in the face of God, and is potential fuel for the flames of hell. So it must destroy happiness before it can introduce salvation.  Christianity cannot erase man's need for pleasure, nor can it eradicate the various sources of pleasure.  What it can do, however, and what it has been extremely effective in accomplishing, is to inculcate guilt in connection with pleasure.  The pursuit of pleasure, when accompanied by guilt, becomes a means of perpetuating chronic guilt, and this serves to reinforce one's dependence on God... "...Much of Christianity's success can be accounted by capitalizing on human suffering; and it was enormously successful in insuring its own existence through the perpetuation of human suffering.  Of course, Christianity, with some exceptions, has never explicitly advocated human misery; it prefers to speak instead of sacrifices in this life so that benefits may be garnered in the life to come. One invests in this life, so to speak, and collects interest in the next.  Fortunately for Christianity, the dead cannot return to demand a refund.  It is Christianity’s obsession with conformity that leads to its various doctrines - doctrines that can only be described as profoundly anti-life.  Christianity has found it necessary, out of self-preservation, to oppose the virtues of rational morality; reason, pride, self-assertiveness, self-esteem- these are the enemies of conformity and, therefore, of Christian faith." “ Believe as I do or you are immoral, question what I believe and you are immoral, if you don’t believe what I do you will be punished, if you do believe what I do you will be rewarded, if people didn’t believe what I do then there would be chaos, there is no other way that we all came to be than my belief because that’s what I believe so it must be true: these are the ‘thoughts’ of Christians.”