Quote:
Originally Posted by Calgaryborn
But your response is what makes you an atheist. You believe there is no God and therefore you are not accountable to any deity. That is your belief.
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I'm accountable to something far greater--my own sense of what is right and what is wrong. I'm answerable only to myself for my actions--shall I do good and be a good, kind, considerate person, or shall I do evil and be an unkind, ungenerous person? Shall I fill my thoughts with love and fellow feeling or hatred and judgment? Shall I treat others with dignity and respect, even if they don't return the favour?
I like to think I do all of these things, most of the time. Certainly I do them more often than some people who call themselves "religious," though by no means am I special--many people who are religious do them too, for the same reasons.
The point? You don't need accountability to a deity to guide you towards a moral life. If you do, then you're not actually behaving morally--you're just avoiding immoral behavior for fear of punishment by a more powerful being.
The first doctrine is
responsibility and
self-reliance. The second is
submission to authority. I know which one I prefer.