For the atheists out there , why are you kind, giveing and loving toward others, or are you? I would think that without God, if we are just a bunch of atoms clumped together, that you would not even choose to be any of these things ever at all…???
Though as a intellectual agnostic (but an emotional theist) I should stay out of this, I’m afraid I must intercede for the athiests…
At heart, the notion of empathy comes not from abstract God ideas, but from the recognition of reflections of your own humanity in others. It was later thought up by the great theolgians that empathy must stem from God to justify relegion’s exsistance in the social order.
yes but why is it that we care to care about another human ?
Truthfully, there is no reason. Evolution may counter that it is a mechanism designed to protect the species, and I think that may be partially true, but I don’t think it totally accounts. Some conventional psychology may counter that it is love of self in projected form, but that too I find lacking.
It springs, I think, from a place beyond reason. It springs, instead from a vague sense, not quantifiable in the realm of rational thought but of feeling. So, I can’t really give a reason that I’m satisfied with, but I can say it stems from a sense, a sense related in the deepest excesses of spiritual euphoria, of the universal, of that which is outside the self and the individuals oneness with it. It this way, it does relate to God, though not from it.
I think perhaps, I don’t really know but maybe, it may be God…[/i]
Social instincts helped the species survive, thus they were naturally selected during the long and oxymoronic evolution porcess.
I’m new to these forums, but as an atheist I highly doubt that my being kind to anyone had to do with believing in God. If anything, perhaps, being kind to others can be seen for its selfish reasons. As humans, we function succesfully in a society. Maybe being kind and helping others is just a way to ensure our place in society.
Perhaps we’re nice to people, because it makes us smile inside
(after placing a checkmark next to good deed for the day)
Gifts to others re-assures the feeling of unity & cooperation.
“Selfish” is a strange word. You breathing – is a “selfish” act.
We want to have love in our life.
Love is not “meaning” or “God”, it is an emotional state of good unity.
That’s why gods both exist and do not exist.
Thought energy, emotional energy and “ghosts”/souls all got poured into certain concepts. Earth gods then began to evolve.
Does a whale in the ocean care at all for any human?
Which species on earth cares about humanity?
The metaphysical beings which do care about humanity, are mostly created by humanity or rooted within human origin.
I can’t wholeheartedly agree on the evolution statement Dan, but that last reminded me of a favorite idea of mine from Jung: thoughts and ideas are just as real as any clump of matter in the universe.
I’m a theist, but I don’t think that PhilosophyGirl’s argument works.
Assuming that moral internalism (ie. that the ‘good’ of an action is a sufficieny motivator for action) is true for the purposes of debate, it follows that one might be kind because one might perceive being kind as good.
If that’s the case, then it doesn’t follow that kindness = good, simply because God says so. I imagine that God knows what is good and acts in accord with good, but good is not good SIMPLY because he says so, in my view. I think the Euthyphro Problem gives quite a good argument for this.
It has more to do with logic then anything about theology or philosophy.
Self preservation
Being nice to others keeps you from getting harmed by others for the most part. If you are mean, then you get the crap kicked out of you or land in jail. Also it might get quite tough trying to make a living when noone wants to work with you or buy what you are selling because you are not a good person.
On the emotional level it gives you comfort and cheer to be nice and help others.
I personally try to be a good person so that I may learn. It is hard to learn when you are on the run. 
Why the hell should God be necessary for to ability to empathize???
Surely all empathy is is the awareness of others with whom you share the world…what else is needed?! Lemme guess, God. Yawn.
Because I want to, that’s why. I don’t need a God to have love. I love my wife and am happy to say that I’m quite independant of any gods, thank you.
There are plenty of hateful god lovers out there, that I can assure you.
Any healthy human being has empathy for other human beings. We care about others because they are, to different degrees, just like us. Every human being is in similar circumstances.
I call myself Agnostic because I believe that God is unknown and unknowable.
Yes but why do you bother to care?
Ok there are certain scapegoats in this world who are really powerless and quite frankly most people do take advantage of them…
But I am asking you, for those atheists that are intentionally kind to everyone including the scapegoats, why are you?
Yes, and thought energy structures can be brought up to a point of stablization, in which they can exist independently of a physical brain, as they use ambient or omnipresent energy as fuel? [or need no fuel].
Later, if fed the proper [and large] amount of energy, tulpian beings can become more and more “real”. They begin to become forms of active force, or “spirit”.
PhilosophyGirl,
I have always been concerned with the welfare of others, and in my small way do whatever I can to help. I have never felt inclined to do otherwise, except in moments where I was under some kind of affliction.
Don’t you feel compassion for other people?
But why? Becasue their pain reminds them of your own and by removing their pain you remove your own?
One cannot remove another’s pain Philosophy Girl.
A
I like people. People are nice to me. People are fun. People are more fun when they’re treated nicely. Maybe I just want to have more fun.
No Shit LiQuid Bitch. If you dont understand what I mean than dont make a pointless remark.