Do not physically harm other people.
Do not steal other people’s things.
Do your best to ameliorate the lives of the less fortunate.
Do not lie or cheat, either in money or trust.
Make an effort to learn.
Act as if all humans are of great value and sapient animals have some worth as well.
Understand that life is complex and there may be situations where it is necessary to violate a commandment to avoid a greater wrong.
I’m not sure I need ten.
Modnote: And thou shall not accuse others of thread shitting, not even in an oblique way. Please don’t do this again. You could’ve flagged it if it bothered you.
I think
Be excellent to each other
- is a reasonable kicking off point. Nine more to go.
j
I question whether there can be morality with a god. If an atheist gives money to charity, or helps someone who is sick or injured, it’s a purely altruistic act. They get nothing from it other than the good feeling that they have helped another person. But if a believer does those things, are they thinking of how they were able to help someone, or are they thinking about how they banked some brownie points to get into heaven? If you only perform charitable acts as a mean of avoiding some future punishment, it ceases to be altruistic and becomes a matter of preserving your own self-interest.
So, which of those is more moral?
The first atheist commandment should state that there are no commandments, with spaces for the other nine being left blank.
I imagine the anarchist constitution is similarly short and to the point.
“Whenever you think you are being altruistic, you should carefully examine your motives for self-deception. Then, if you still want to do it, wallow in it!”—Robert Heinlein.
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In the great blood-stained Darwinian struggle for survival, it is in your interest to make friends, and to avoid making enemies. Therefore, it is in your interest to consider other people’s wants and needs. If you want to be sappy and sentimental, you can call that “empathy” or “compassion”. But “enlightened self-interest” produces the same behavior patterns.
Liars make enemies. It is in your interest to be truthful.
Thieves make enemies. It is in your interest to be honest.
Killers make enemies. It is in your interest to be peaceful.
And so on, through the rest of the Mosaic code.
If you think before you act, and you give {long-term need} priority over {short-term desire}, you end up with a behavior pattern that most Bible-thumpers can get along with.
============================
Anton LaVey was technically an atheist. He used “Satan” as a symbol of rebellion against authority, and his Black Masses were mostly theater, to shock the rubes. He came up with The Eleven Satanic Rules of the Earth:
The 7 Principles of Unitarian Universalists are a good framework and do not rely on a deity of any kind. They are more broad than some of the examples in this thread, but there is a lot of ground to cover.
Let’s not forget AH Clough’s Latest Decalogue:
Thou shalt have one God only: who
Would be at the expense of two?
No graven images may be
Worshipped, except the currency.
Swear not at all: for, for thy curse,
Thine enemy is none the worse.
At church on Sunday to attend
Will serve to keep the world thy friend.
Honour thy parents: that is, all
From whom advancement may befall.
Thou shalt not kill: but need’st not strive
Officiously to keep alive.
Do not adultery commit:
Advantage rarely comes of it.
Thou shalt not steal: an empty feat,
When it’s so lucrative to cheat.
Bear not false witness: let the lie
Have time on its own wings to fly.
Thou shalt not covet: but tradition
Approves all forms of competition.
The sum of all is, thou shalt love,
If any body, God above:
At any rate shall never labour
More than thyself to love thy neighbour.
Just one.
Try not to be a cnut.
Vonnegut famously wrote that there was only one rule: “God damn it, you’ve gotta be kind.”
I suppose you could leave out the “God” and “damn it” parts, if necessary.
From the Bangor Maine Police FB page (which incidentally has some great writing) :
Keep your hands to yourself, leave other people’s things alone, and be kind to one another.
That’s really all I could ask for, although I would think that if you had a set of rules for yourself that you would also think it would be good for humanity if everyone followed them. Like, “Don’t kill people” is pretty good. “Don’t eat too much ice cream” would be good for me, but I don’t think it would make society better if everyone followed it.
Sorry, I did not realize that was a violation.
Moderator Note
This is why the OP specified “What would be your atheist 10 commandments”. These don’t have to agree. It’s just a poll for opinions, which is fine for IMHO.
Don’t threadshit.
*applauds begbert2’s ode to selfishness as the prompt for altruistic behavior *
I think 3 is enough.
For many years now, I have been an adherent of Doomism, which has two main tenets:
#1: You are doomed. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, maybe not in a way that is final, but inevitably, you will experience doom in a variety of forms over the course of a lifetime.
#2: See #1.
Personal experience suggests adding the following for a universal framework of morality sans metaphysical conceits:
#3: Since final doom could happen any time, the only life strategy that makes sense (absent conclusive proof of an afterlife) is to maximize one’s happiness while one lives. Note that this is not a license to do whatever the fuck you want because if you do, chances are there will be consequences which will make you unhappy and/or bring about some serious doom sooner rather than later, thereby diminishing or curtailing your prospects for future happiness.
#4: There is nothing necessarily for or against giving consideration to other people, causes or concerns when acting, but be aware not everyone does and doing so could leave you vulnerable.
#5: There are limits to the extent one can take responsibility for the actions of others (which is sometimes unavoidable). Failure to observe those limits will likely lead to a measure of doom.
#6: Thou shalt try to avoid making judgements that don’t need to be made, but if you can’t help yourself - and if you’re human, you can’t – try to avoid expressing those judgements in public. Sometimes this is not possible and you may experience a measure of doom because of it.
#7: Thou shalt strive to be patient with and tolerant of others who do not believe as you do, but if they proselytize, it’s okay to subject them and their crackpot beliefs to ridicule and derision.
#8: Moderation in all things, including moderation.
#9: Thou shalt not play near windows nor on stairs.
#10: Thou shalt not go out in public in pajama tops or bottoms.
All of the above stress the vital importance of developing critical thinking skills so one can make reality-based assessments of other people and causes before acting to ensure the best chance of realizing the most enduring prospects for the greatest happiness.
Is this original by you?
Yep - came up with it on the spot.
I’m of the opinion that rich people hoarding their wealth and talking about going to mars or whatever to escape the poor people and the planet they destroyed is proof that you can both be rich and very, very stupid. Even a cursory examination of self interest will show somebody with half a brain that they don’t want the world burning and rioting around them.