On Morality

The good, the bad, and the real.

What exactly is "good" when the "good" is established by culture and the social system. We can imagine that a society that accepts slavery, for example, is "good", because that particular society has accepted one fact which led to people thinking that slavery is "good". Perhaps, being good is nothing but a socially accepted action. We can imagine a society where killing men every 5 days as their culture in order to please the gods as "good" too.

How does our skewed belief in our current particular moral spectrum make us think that waking up early in the morning to attend class, attend work in order to support yourself, or even pay bills in order to support your unknown future as normal, productive, or good? Humanity has come a long way in establishing social systems. The Ancient Greeks have invented a system where the people can choose who they want to lead, except that their women can't do much compared to our society's women today. Religion has also took part in establishing what is good and what is not, especially with the famous religions of today.

Religious people and atheists often have quarrels with each other, more so when the religious people are imposing what they believe to the said atheists in order to "save" their souls. Now, how do we measure morality from here on? Do we measure the morality of religious peoples based on their religious beliefs? For example, gay marriage in the context of Islam and Roman Catholicism? If you have said yes, then you need to read the first paragraph again. I do think that people deserve their right to be happy, even if they are "sinning" when measuring their morality on a religious factor.

Atheists, on the other hand, do not require any measure of morality, since they do not need to pray in order to feel better about themselves. Do atheists need to see if what they are doing is correct? Their morality does not depend on old ancient texts, and can be good enough without being anxious that a god is watching over them. Religious people (not all) are often required to do good in order to be accepted, but in an atheist's point of view would be different. An atheists would do good out of his own conscience, there may be a bad underlying reason, like donating to the poor in order to gain fame, but my point still stands that atheists do things out of their own will. Religion has invented this system where a man sins, and he is forgiven by praying. I think this system is being abused by those afflicted by mental issues in order to hurt those around them. A scenario I had in mind would be an abusive husband in his own house to his wife, but a cheery pastor who teaches how Jesus forgave us and our sins by dying on a cross. Is the pastor husband good? Obviously not. Atheists only require their moral compass in order to be "good" in itself, but this moral compass is dictated by what is currently "good". Being a decent human being does not require religion, but requires your own moral being compared to another person's morality. No man is an island after all, because man requires another in order to know what is socially acceptable.