I'm an atheist
I believe the existence of any deity has never been proven, & is unlikely to ever be proven. I believe that good can & should be done without worrying whether or not you've done sufficient good to be rewarded.
- Amber Rife
Quote Source: Comment on the Atheist Republic Facebook Page
That's a cool quote that I think most all atheist can agree with! Why not just do good for the reward of knowing you did good.
When people say you need religion for morals, I say "So you have no morals without religion?", and I wonder, "Are these people sociopaths?".
I really like that last part. I've always had a really hard time accepting that most people only refrain from doing terrible things because they fear the consequences. For them, I can see the need for religion, as nothing else would be able to keep their craziness in check for their entire lives - though the State does put up a good fight on that front!
I hope as humans we can evolve beyond that. In most people, compassion and empathy are hardwired into our brains. We don't need someone else's rules to tell us how to be good to one another. I hope that once we accept that, we'll have happier people overall and religion will become obsolete.
Excellent quote that I believe is very true. If you need to fear god to be good the you are not really a good person.
The second half is the best part and if more people could instill that into their lives without the need for religion, we would have less wars and infighting making the world a better place to live for all of us.
Agreed, I try to live with in my day to day life where I try not to expect someone I did something for out of the goodness of my heart to do anything in return for me. I expect no reward for my good behavior but the reward of having known I acted well, good.
Good without God, it's a really good way to live our lives. We don't need a reason to be good to each other, we should be good to each other because we want to and it's the right thing to do in the first place.
This quote is so true if someone will only be good out of fear of a "god" then they really aren't doing any good