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Entry: The Addams Family Chapel Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/the_addams_family_chapel#11025 Post contents: Rich; As your fellow atheists Penn and Teller might say: Bull**it. If there is no afterlife, no judgement, no Heaven and Hell - if Mother Theresa and Josef Stalin both get the same thing in the end, then why *not* be Stalin? True, atheism gives one no reason to be Torquemada or Osama bin Laden. But it also gives one no reason *not* to be Idi Amin or Tony Soprano - just a mean thug who hurts anyone who gets in his way in order to get ahead and live in luxury. Without God, without Hell - why not? The only thing that could dissuade you would be moral qualms or fear of earthly punishment, both of which can be dispensed with fairly easily. The morality especially - without God there can be no objective morality. Your idea of what is right and wrong and my idea of what is right and wrong are just two dude's opinions. This holds true no matter who we are - wether we're Adolf Hitler or Charles Manson or just two average guys. What can you turn to, then, as a basis of morality (or ethics, if you prefer a more sterile word)? Nature? Watch the Discovery Channel or Animal Planet for an afternoon to see how brutal nature can be. Majority opinion? That's countenanced some pretty awful stuff over the years. Rationality? Since when was mercy and charity rational (they call it "cold, hard" reason for a reason)? The enlightened guidance of educated, progressive "brights"? Still just some dudes' opinions. And even if you had a pretty good basis for such things that would hold up well in a philosophy discussion, again, why should I conform to your idea of ethics? You're just some guy. Sent at: 2008 09 05