Atheism, Morality, and the Value of Human Life

Why I’m an atheist who values human beings.

Photo by Jacek Dylag on Unsplash

Why should atheists value human life? As an atheist and someone who subscribes to the Consistent Life Ethic, I want to come from a position that values the individual worth and dignity of every human life.

Where do you get your morality?

Atheists get asked a lot about where we get our morality. Religious people often believe that without God and the concept of God’s laws, there is no reason to have any moral values at all. A person who is an atheist, they think, has nothing to prevent them from robbing, raping, and killing.

They can’t understand how there can be a basis for morality without the 10 Commandments or some other standard put forth by an all-powerful God.

Atheists often point out that the Bible itself is not a very good source of morality. In the Old Testament, there are examples of God allegedly commanding soldiers to slaughter children and take sex slaves, as well as sanctions of slavery, polygamy, and other troubling things.

(Christians, of course, will explain that these passages are historical examples and not indicative of the way God actually wants us to lead our lives.)

So when Christians challenge atheists by asking them why they have moral values, some atheists get annoyed. One famous atheist, Penn Gillette of Penn and Teller, had a good answer:

The question I get asked by religious people all the time is, without God, what’s to stop me from raping all I want?

And my answer is: I do rape all I want. And the amount I want is zero. And I do murder all I want, and the amount I want is zero.

The fact that these people think that if they didn’t have this person watching over them that they would go on killing, raping rampages is the most self-damning thing I can imagine. I don’t want to do that. Right now, without any god, I don’t want to jump across this table and strangle you.

This gets the point across, but it doesn’t really answer the question. Those of us who are atheists have moral values. But where they come from is a philosophical question.

Relative morality or an objective moral standard?

Perhaps there is a natural standard of morality that exists independently as a form of natural law. This would mean that morality is absolute and not relative. It would mean that some things are universally wrong, regardless of popular opinion or the trends of society. The alternative to this is that morality is relative.

Many atheists believe that morality is relative. This would mean there is no independent standard of morality. Instead, morality varies from society to society and time period to time period. Something morally wrong in one society may not be wrong in another. It depends on the society and what is considered right and wrong at the time.

But this opens up a can of worms. Things that are recognized as moral atrocities, such as slavery, exposure of infants, and the Holocaust, were all considered moral by the societies in which they occurred.

In ancient Rome, exposing unwanted babies after birth, which almost always led to the infants’ death, was legal and widely practiced. Slavery has been widely accepted in many societies, including American society in the 17 and 1800s. Many Germans supported the Holocaust, and the Holocaust, of course, was legally sanctioned by the government.

In each of these cases, there were voices of protest raised and people who worked against these injustices. But majorities in these societies accepted them, as did their governments.

If morality is relative, how do we condemn these things? And yet, we know we must condemn them. Few people believe that the Holocaust was morally okay because it was sanctioned by the government, or that slavery is fine in some societies but not in others.

The development of the human conscience.

We seem to know intuitively that there are moral absolutes.

Unless there is something wrong with us, and we have become sociopaths due to a combination of genetics at birth and traumatic experiences, we have consciences. We have an intuitive sense of right and wrong.

When we hurt another person, we feel guilty. When we help another person, we feel happy. When we hear about injustices, whether overseas or in our own country, our stomachs churn and we feel upset or angry.

Our emotions seem to tell us that some things are right or wrong. Is this proof of a standard of morality independent of what we can see and touch?

I think that is very possible.

But it may also be that we evolved, as creatures that live in groups rather than alone, to have consciences. Most scientists believe that early humans lived in small groups of hunter-gatherers. Early humans evolved in a harsh environment where it was a constant challenge to find food, avoid predators, access shelter, and raise young.

Early humans needed to work together and needed to be able to trust one another to survive. The good of each single human being in a small tribe was dependent on every other human being.

Attributes like honesty, protectiveness, loyalty, and generosity benefited the group as a whole and thus each individual. So as human society evolved, our consciences evolved with it.

One can see that things that were widely viewed as moral in the past, such as infanticide, war atrocities, and slavery, are now widely viewed as immoral. Does this represent our morality evolving? And if so, are humans creating this new moral reality, or are we discovering it?

Choosing the Golden Rule

One thing is clear. Humans, unlike all other animals, can think and reason. We are free to choose our own moral values and standards. In my opinion, it is preferable to use one’s conscience as one’s guide.

But I do not believe morality is limited only to what one’s conscience dictates. Each individual has to develop their own moral code and choose what their values are going to be. The choices we make will determine what our society will become.

As atheists, we do not subscribe to any particular belief system. We are free to objectively examine other belief systems, take what seems useful and resonates with us, and leave the rest.

We are free to take positive aspects and teachings out of individual religions or philosophies and apply them, without accepting the negative aspects of these religions.

Most religions have something good to offer. Christianity gives us Jesus’ command to forgive others and love our enemies, and the Golden Rule — the philosophical rule of, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Treat others the way you would want to be treated.

In my mind, a better basis for morality cannot be found. And it is not unique to Christianity. There is a version of the Golden Rule in nearly every modern religion:

Buddhism: Treat not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.

Confucianism: One word which sums up the basis of all good conduct….loving-kindness. Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself.

Hinduism: This is the sum of duty: do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you.

Islam: Not one of you truly believes until you wish for others what you wish for yourself.

Judaism: What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. This is the whole Torah; all the rest is commentary. Go and learn it.

Taoism: Regard your neighbor’s gain as your own gain and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss.

The same concept can be found in Native American and African tribal religions as well.

Something about the Golden Rule makes it almost universal. Religious traditions from all over the world have made it a foundational part of their doctrine.

In my mind, atheists should adopt this rule as our own. It has become my foundational moral tenet.

Why is the Golden Rule so Universally Recognized?

The fact that so many societies, separated by miles of oceans, have versions of the Golden Rule seems to indicate to me that there is a standard of objective morality that all humans inherently recognize.

If morality came solely from Christianity (and is limited to Christianity), how do you explain why so many other religions have similar teachings? Why is murder universally considered wrong?

If an objective morality exists, via a type of natural law, this would explain why so many cultures, and so many people, have an innate sense of right and wrong.

The Golden Rule implies that other human beings are as valuable as we are. When you believe in this basic truth, you have the foundation of the Consistent Life Ethic. If we see value in ourselves, in our own lives, and in our own comfort, we must value the lives, selves, and comfort of others. We must do this because human beings are valuable.

Who (or What) Created Morality?

No one can truly “prove” there is an objective morality, in the same way, no one can truly prove God exists. We know the universe exists. We know it is governed by natural laws. Gravity, relativity, cause and effect- where did these ultimately come from?

One can say that the universe was created by God, and so was everything else. Christians argue that everything that exists needs a creator. Morality, then, if an objective standard exists, must be created by God.

But when I ask Christians “Who created God?” they always answer “He always existed.” So if God can exist without a cause, why not nature? Why not the universe? Why not objective morality? If everything that exists must be created by something (or someone) wouldn’t that apply to God too? But apparently, it doesn’t.

So saying “God must have created morality” but “God always existed and no one created Him” simply removes the question by one degree. It doesn’t answer it.

I don’t have the answers- but ultimately, neither do my Christian friends.

The value of human beings

Human beings are valuable, and most human beings seem to intrinsically know this. Why are human beings valuable?

Humans are unique

Every human person is unique and irreplaceable. We cannot be re-created or reconstituted by natural means. The unique genetic design of each person will never be repeated by nature.

The process of conception makes each of us unique. And that is only the beginning of who we are.

Even if we were to clone people, we would never have two identical human beings because our experiences, choices, and actions also create who we are. Our memories, dreams, hopes, fears, and life experiences — all of these combined with our genetic tendencies create the unique and irreplaceable person each of us is.

If we lived a billion lifetimes, we would never encounter the same person twice.

Like a piece of handmade priceless jewelry or artwork, each human being is a precious creation. And each human being is brilliantly complex. Not only physically, but mentally and emotionally.

No matter how well you know someone, they can still surprise you. If you were trapped on a desert island with someone you loved for a million years, there would still be things you could learn about them after that time.

Human beings are irreplaceable.

A human being who is destroyed can never be replaced. Their unique perspective can never be regained. Once lost, they can never be rediscovered.

In the same way, it would be wrong to destroy the Mona Lisa, it is wrong to kill a person. Because every person is a work of art, shaped by nature and endowed with limitless possibilities. There are no exceptions.

I have chosen to believe that the value of an individual human being can never be destroyed. Whether a person is poor or rich, weak or strong, able-bodied or disabled, whether they live up to their potential or do not, whether they are good and generous or corrupt and selfish, every human being has worth because of what they are. A being with human nature.

Religious people believe that humans are created in the image of God. While I do not believe in a literal God, I believe there is something unique and special about human beings that gives us inherent worth. This worth exists by the nature of who and what we are.

We are a unique and precious species.

We are the only animals that use reason. Other animals can think and some are even borderline self-aware. But humans use reason in a way no other creature on Earth does.

We are the only creatures who make art and engage in philosophical discussion. We are the only creatures with a concept of right and wrong. There may be none like us in the universe, and even if there are, there are none that are exactly like us. We have worth because of our boundless potential, which we never lose.

No one can be so weak, immoral, or degraded that they lose the potential to be a better person. As long as there is life, there is hope for positive change.

There is a Jewish saying that when you kill a person, you destroy an entire universe. Each human being, with their unique perspectives, joys, and sorrows, loves and hates, is as complex and wondrous as we can imagine. The wonder of the universe is contained in each person in a vital, powerful way.

All of us, atheists and believers, love our friends. Nearly all of us have people in our lives who we love. Many strangers are only loved ones we haven’t met yet. When this is your basic philosophy, you will naturally care about what happens to other human beings.

Creating a world free of injustice

The advantages of this philosophy are many. When people care about one another, when we seek to help others and preserve others’ lives and happiness, we create a better world. A world full of people who respect life will be a better world for all of us.

The truth is, every individual, atheist, or believer, ultimately chooses their moral path through life and their own moral values. The more people who choose to value human beings and respect human life, the better our shared world will become. Even if self-interest is your only motivation, a world of people who value human life will be better for you than a world of people who do not.

If we had a world where everyone valued other human beings and lived by the Golden Rule, it would be a better world for all of us. This is, sadly, not what we see in our world. We live in a world full of injustice, and the source of this injustice is a lack of love for other human beings.

When you see human beings as priceless works of art, things of value, it is impossible not to love them. When you love people, it is impossible to torture, oppress, or kill them. Love makes it impossible to treat others in an unjust way. And that ends injustice and makes a better world for all of us.

A better world starts not outside us but within us.

It starts with me. It starts with you. When we recognize the beauty of other human beings, we create a beautiful world.

Let’s not dwell on our differences, and let’s not let unanswerable questions divide us.

Let’s lay claim to a morality that honors human life — every human life, with no exceptions. Let’s claim a morality that leaves no one excluded, no one behind. Let’s build a beautiful world together.