Since becoming an atheist I've realized something potentially life changing in that it could either make me a better person or a totally ignorant one.
I realized that my "sins" were now unaccounted for. That meant that if I did something bad, I wouldn't be punished for it so long as I didn't get caught. It kinda' opened the doorway like a free hall pass on life. All the possibilities that come with this knowledge seemed endless.
I felt invincible for quite a while doing as I pleased without a care in the world. No god meant that no atonement for my sins. Don't get me wrong, I didn't go out and murder someone or rob a bank because I knew I wouldn't burn in hell for it, rather, I "sinned" in small ways that formally I would have felt terribly guilty for. Like telling little white lies (to cover my ass mostly) or taking that extra piece of cake when no one was looking or disobeying my parents (let's admit that they don't always give us the best advice).
That was all until I came to the realization of what kind of privilege was bestowed upon me. The privilege of this knowledge was empowering. I was given a special gift that not a lot of people I knew got to receive. It occurred to me that I had to use this gift wisely and not take it for granted. Just because I could sin without consequence (usually) didn't mean I should go ahead and sin. It got me thinking a lot about morals and what it meant to have them. Thanks to people like Professor Richard Dawkins, I discovered that having moral standards or a conscious wasn't a religious thing rather something we humans are born with that took thousands of years of evolution to perfect.
The more I thought about it, the more it seemed to make sense. Being an atheist has it's perks, but it's up to the individual to control the privilege of the ideology of non-consequential sinning (if I can call it that).
I now put aside my selfish agendas and think about the consequences and repercussions that my actions have on others and their feelings even if it means nothing to them. I've realized that it is a huge responsibility now more than ever to do right by everyone and myself especially. All I can do now is try to be the better atheist.
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A sin is different than a crime. Sin is an affront to a non-existent being. Crimes are committed by real people against real people. I like to think of Hillels Golden Rule : "That which is despicable to you, do not do to your fellow".
Yea once you burn the book of rules, you start to gain back your reasoning and start to understand morality for real.
Why do this and not that.
Once you do, and understand the feeling of a good action for what it is, rather then obeying a rule, you will feel what you are feeling now.
A sens of empowerment and respect in your own self being that a theistic religion can never give you.
This is very hard to explain to a theist so we usually do not bother.
It is good that you finally joined the sane people A_free_thinker.
"All I can do now is try to be the better atheist."
Becoming an atheist is just lacking belief in a theistic god, it is just the first step, you cannot be a better atheist, you either lack belief or you don't.
You can find an immoral sadistic atheist too.
Becoming an atheist after all the mental conditioning of theism, is the first step in understanding WHY you should be a better person or not, instead of being a mindless robot that obeys divine orders or is punished with guilt if he doesn't.
Well if you were a christian you could pray your sins away and repent, but an atheist has to act on it, and find his own peace and when done something wrong face it like a man. Which i feel is way more moral :)
This is a problem that theists put out to atheists all the time. The minute we 'burn our book' of laws and morals, the idea for them is that we then live a/immorally. Without their concept of deistically adjudicated morality, we'd eat babies, kick puppies, etc. It comes from growing up in a worldview that has no other concept of the origin of ethical thinking than those originating from holy texts. The idea that people can act rationally, responsible, and empathically to each other is anathema to them. More often than not, they're told that people who do not hold their concept of deistic morality are by definition living in a state of immorality. It's whey they see people who believe other deistic tenets as immoral, even though their concept of 'good living' is equally supernaturally motivated.
I'd be the first to admit that treating others well because of empathy is more difficult a concept to grasp; it's one of theistic moralities strongest selling points. It's far easier to simply 'do as your told' instead of finding a good reason to treat others beneficially. That's not meant as a snipe to theists, it's the basic truth. Some of the easiest things we're made to understand are those that are told to us directly by others in lieu of experimenting on our own. It's the reason why most of us never stuck pennies into light sockets. We were told not to. We didn't then spurn the rules and go for the outlets, it was something that simply fit, so to speak. It's much more difficult to gauge sharing your food with another person based on how their welfare benefits you as opposed to being told directly by an authority figure.
The best response I have to the 'ease' argument is that it's much easier to believe that the moon is a laughing sky animal that chases the chariot of fire around the world. I don't think anyone would argue that we were better off with that concept as opposed to the much more difficult idea of doing the math to get us there.
Quote, "I discovered that having moral standards or a conscious wasn't a religious thing rather something we humans are born with.." Exactly! Religion/atheism has nothing to do with morality. Nature and nurture govern behavior.
This might interest you...
http://americanhumanist.org/
and this might amuse...
http://www.atheismuk.com/2012/03/31/atheism/yes-i-am-an-atheist/
I liked reading your description of how your views changed over time.
When it comes to "doing what you like", religious people do the same thing but they rationalize it away, an interesting read:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258192100_With_God_on_my_side_T...
EDIT: Repaired the link.
All of the holy books were written by human beings. All gods were created by humans. When I read a religious book I witness the full spectrum of what humans will consider moral. On one hand I read about kindness , charity , empathy, and forgiveness. On the other hand I read about genocide , misogyny, and retribution. I hope one day we will grow up and take responsibility for this mess we made named "God". It is getting a bit old, don't you think?
Still, it's perfectly fine to take that extra piece of cake :)
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