To the theists: How would you behave different if there was no God?

[FriarTed]

@cmkeller

I’d pay a hell of a lot less for meat, that’s for sure.

You could eat hot dogs from the back half of the cow!

Why am I commenting on all the posts about Jewishness & food?

Because I’m intriqued by the Jewish world and I love food!

[DanBlather]

I find this thread surprising and disheartening. I’ve always thought that deciding what kind of hat to wear, what holy day to set aside, or whether it’s OK to eat beef, pork, or neither is religion, while knowing that it’s not OK to take someone else’s’ stuff is morality stemming from an innate moral sense of biology and socializations. Now it looks like religious people are admitting they are sociopaths with no innate morality.

[Nobody]

@DanBlather

I find this thread surprising and disheartening. I’ve always thought that deciding what kind of hat to wear, what holy day to set aside, or whether it’s OK to eat beef, pork, or neither is religion, while knowing that it’s not OK to take someone else’s’ stuff is morality stemming from an innate moral sense of biology and socializations. Now it looks like religious people are admitting they are sociopaths with no innate morality.

Who here has said that they’d murder or steal or anything else bad if they lost their faith?

[wonky]

@Nobody

Who here has said that they’d murder or steal or anything else bad if they lost their faith?

@smiling_bandit

I might make a world-killer fusion bomb so that when I die I can push the button and turn the world to ash. Yes, it’s possible (although… very difficult). Other than that, I’d rob, steal, and plunder the world.

It was one of the first replies to the thread.

[Nobody]

@jsgoddess

It was one of the first replies to the thread.

A. It sounded like a joke to me.
B. Even if he was serious that’s only one person.

[wonky]

@Nobody

A. It sounded like a joke to me.
B. Even if he was serious that’s only one person.

So, when you asked who had said it, you wanted us to understand that you meant who had said it other than the ones who said it. Like BigT:

@BigT

There have been quite a few times where my belief in God has been the only thing that has kept me from doing something immoral that would hurt me in the long run. I honestly think I’d be in jail or worse.

[Nobody]

@jsgoddess

So, when you asked who had said it, you wanted us to understand that you meant who had said it other than the ones who said it. Like BigT:

Sorry, I guess I didn’t see that one. But I’m still not convinced that if all religions went away tomorrow that most of the people who were religious would start doing things that would hurt other people. When it comes to doing things that most people agree about being bad, there are other reasons than religion that theists don’t do them. Besides religion a lot of us don’t want others to do wrong to us and a lot of us would feel bad if we did something that hurt or killed somebody or damaged or destroyed their property.

Now there are some things that, in general, you’ll only hear criticism from religion. Although most people do it, most mainstream Christian denominations say sex outside of marriage is wrong. If religion went away then a lot of people might start having pre-marital sex, and be doing something that they use to consider wrong. Likewise smoking pot or getting drunk is usually only considered wrong by religion (again, generally speaking), so if everybody became atheist then you might see more people getting drunk and high.

But again, things that most people consider wrong, theist and atheist alike, I predict you wouldn’t see much of a rise in those activities. Yes, some former theists would murder, rape, steal, etc., but they would be the exceptions.