What would define morality if not for some greater power, whether you call it Buddha or God or you believe in karma and reincarnation? Legitimate question here.
Can you justify any act as being wholly moral or wholly immoral without having to look at it outside of the perspective of humanity? You might say that your morals can be deduced through logic, but not everyone has the same reasoning capabilities as you nor do they have the same views on life as you. Without a higher authority or being, who is to say that your set or code of morals is right or whether someone else's might be correct?
I'm not saying you can't be a moral atheist. Especially in today's day and age you certainly can be. But I think it takes an astounding amount of naivety and ignorance to believe that human beings would eventually come across the firmly established moral code we live with now without religions, both ancient and current, driving the philosophy behind those morals.
What would define morality if not for some greater power, whether you call it Buddha or God or you believe in karma and reincarnation? Legitimate question here.
Can you justify any act as being wholly moral or wholly immoral without having to look at it outside of the perspective of humanity? You might say that your morals can be deduced through logic, but not everyone has the same reasoning capabilities as you nor do they have the same views on life as you. Without a higher authority or being, who is to say that your set or code of morals is right or whether someone else's might be correct?
I'm not saying you can't be a moral atheist. Especially in today's day and age you certainly can be. But I think it takes an astounding amount of naivety and ignorance to believe that human beings would eventually come across the firmly established moral code we live with now without religions, both ancient and current, driving the philosophy behind those morals.