The Principles That Bind The Believer And The Non-Believer {It Isn't God}
As an atheist, I frequently argue with the believer over the existence or non-existence of a deity. This week, which is sacred to those who follow the Judaic and Christian religions does not seem, at its face to be the time for one who does not believe to write an article. I certainly hope that those that believe don't see this as an attack on any or all of your religions. They are what they are and you have chosen to worship within that faith culture.
This article is somewhat different. For just a moment, I want to share that which unites us spiritually and as humanists. There are principles that are shared by religions and atheists together. In toto, they provide the most important principles that guide all of our lives. They are the everyday rules and principles that people throughout the world tend to agree upon. Whether we follow these principles, either as believers or non-believers, is a matter of personal determination. The punishment for violation of these principles may vary, yet we all can find where these principles fit into our larger moral compass.
Most interesting is the realization that a belief in a god is not necessary to have the morality to follow these principles. Many humans followed these same principles throughout history and pre-history. Before we worshipped gods, when we worshipped many gods, when we worship one god or no god at all, the principles remain the same.
Look at the list. Regardless of what you believe or don't believe, do these principles apply to each of you.? My personal question is if we all ultimately believe the same principles, why do we have to attribute those princ iples to a god figure? Why don't we just call it the principles by which humanity should live?
Great Principles Shared by All Religions and by Non-Believers
1. The Golden Rule / Law of Reciprocity – The cornerstone of religious and all human understanding. “Do unto others what you would have them do unto you.” – Christianity
2. Honor Thy Father and Mother – Knowing them is the key to knowing ourselves. The day will come when we shall wish we had known them better. Every modern society values our elders. We know instinctively what debts we owe to our parents and even in the worse circumstances, we try to better that relationship.
3. Speak the Truth – All people speak to the value of truth. The moral clarity of truth telling is a key component of every religion. Whether we are a believer or a non-believer, we tend to distrust and dislike those who are chronic liars.
4. It’s More Blessed to Give than to Receive – Generosity, charity and kindness will open an individual to an unbounded reservoir of riches. Every religion, even early pagan religions have looked at charity and kindness as desired human values. Modern humanists see this as a core value.
5. Heaven is Within – “Even as the scent dwells within the flower, so God within thine own heart forever abides.” – Sikhism We hear about spirituality from all religions and we also hear agnostics and atheists talk about oneness with everything around them. The concept of "we are one", in Hebrew "am achad" is a universal principal.
6. Love Thy Neighbor / Conquer With Love / All You Need is Love – Love for our fellow man must become an abiding part of our lives. Love is a unifying force. Examples can be found in every holy book of every religion. Love over hatred is not necessarily a religious concept. It is a human concept.
7. Blessed Are the Peacemakers – When people live in the awareness that there is a close kinship between all individuals and nations, peace is the natural result. There is a human drive toward life over death, peace over war. This may be the most perverted principle of human existence. The holy books talk of peace, the humanist mantras talk of peace, yet there have been more wars fought in the name of religion than for any other reason. We all need to follow this principle more closely.
8. You Reap What You Sow – This is the great mystery of human life. Aware or unaware, all are ruled by this inevitable law of nature. While biblical in commentary, this really is an observation on the natural progression. As a tomato comes from tomato seed, love comes from love, hate from hate. We do not need religion to teach us that universal truth.
9. Man Does Not Live by Bread Alone – The blessings of life are deeper than what can be appreciated by the senses.
10. Do No Harm – If someone tries to hurt another, it means that s/he is perceiving that person as something separate and foreign from herself. Physicians have adopted this phrase as a secular mantra for their life saving profession.
11. Forgiveness – The most beautiful thing a man can do is to forgive wrong. – Judaism Everyone on this planet knows that no one is perfect. Mistakes are made every day. They must be forgiven. We often hear people of faith or those who are non-believers say "life is short, don't carry a grudge".
12. Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged – This principle is an expression of the underlying truth that mankind is one great family, and that we all spring from a common source.
13. Be Slow to Anger – Anger clouds the mind in the very moments that clarity and objectivity are needed most. “He who holds back rising anger like a rolling chariot, him I call a real driver; others only hold the reins.” – Buddha
14. Follow the Spirit of the Scriptures, Not the Words – “Study the words, no doubt, but look behind them to the thought they indicate; And having found it, throw the words away, as chaff when you have sifted out the grain.” – Hinduism To me, as a non-believer, this is one of the most profound truths that is common to all religions and in it's own way, common to the non-believer. Whether you see the holy books as divine, inspired, or a collection of fables, there are lessons to be learned and the reader, given the opportunity will learn the lessons. The real beauty of scripture is that it could be read by anyone on any level and doesn't require a belief in a god.
These are by no means the only common principles that we all follow on earth. They are here to demonstrate that the believer and the non-believer really have much more in common than we have that differs. One may believe in a god and all the "benefits" that may accrue from that belief {perhaps an afterlife or immortality} or you may recognize that this world is all there is.....we are born, we live, we die. Regardless, we can agree on how to live our lives while we are here on this world. We need not fight over religion. We need not denigrate those of different faiths or non-believers. We need not seek to force conversion. If we follow that which we all believe, our lives will all be happier.
With that a Blessed Easter, a Sweet Pesach, or a great weekend to everyone.
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This is truly an excellent article and, probably, the best I have read in a very long time.
Why is it that I care not if one is a non believer, yet, it seems so many care that I am a believer?
Your list is what brings us together.
Thank you....When people have asked me what my life mantra is, I always quote the Hebrew....Am Achad...... We are one......No matter what we think divides us, there is more that we have in common.
Have a Blessed Easter
I agree it is an excellent article. But I have a question about your post. Who are the "many" that seem to care that you are a believer ?
As an atheist, I frequently argue with the believer over the existence or non-existence of a deity.
Why, just because you like to argue? You could just ignore believers, instead of confronting them and trying to prove them wrong. Several years ago Joseph Campbell pointed out that the values pointed out above are pretty the same across different faiths all across the world. I must point out the certain elements of Islam don't follow those tenets at all
And neither do certain tenets of Christianity - after all, it's almost the same as Islam and follows the same god.
Trust you to turn a great article into a slam of a religion you hate.
I actually agree with Campbell but take it a step further. Not only are the principles solid across religions but they are also solid among non-believers. The reality is that Islam may have the Quran as their holy scripture, they recognize the validity of the Penteuch and the New Testament and subscribe to the principles common to all religion. Because a sect of the religion may be apostate to the principles {as you have in every religion}, it doesn't change the universality of the principles.
The whole purpose of the article is that there is more that should bring us together, than that which should tear us apart. I don't have to believe in your conception of a deity to want all of us to live under the same positive principles. I may think that your perception of deity is wrong or you may perceive my non-belief as wrong. That is the subject of our frequent debate here on NT. What we shouldn't be disputing are the principles we all live under.
Perhaps discuss may have been a better way to say it, but unfortunately most religious discussions seem to devolve into arguments.
For myself I enjoy learning what others believe or do not, the difficulty is in finding those willing to have a rational discussion rather than attempting to convert me. We all have our own way of getting through the night, one way is no better or worse than the other in my opinion.
There really isn't anything to talk about. Nobody wants to die. People who are capable of deluding themselves to the (incredible) extent required, believe in a fairy tale 'afterlife' where we live in bliss for eternity. Who wouldn't want eternal bliss? I sure wish I could believe it, but belief is not a choice.
Agreed.
Good article. Appropriate for holy days.
IMNAAHO, any God worthy of respect would be largely satisfied with your list. Any "god" who requires his followers to perform tricks is despicable. Again, IMNAAHO, a Christian has ONE commandment to obey, "Love one another" (your Golden Rule) which kinda sorta engenders all the others.
Great article. Gods or no gods, if we all strive to treat each other well, to treat ourselves well, to treat our planet and its creatures and ecosystems well ... then all is good.
Very nicely said
We can live in peace. Lord knows I try hard to live in peace with all men, and I did so as an Agnostic and now as a Christian. Sadly, we all know those folks in our sphere who can not or won't let anybody live in spiritual or physical peace. Blessed Easter, a Sweet Passover, and a great weekend to everyone.
Good point (entire article).
One of the misconceptions people have of the irreligious is that lacking faith necessarily means lacking morality. That someone or some book has to tell an individual basic morality. Very strange because that implies when a person loses their faith they become immoral. One person on NT said a few months ago that without his faith / beliefs he probably would resort to his primal nature (raping, pillaging, etc.) I am not making that up.
I suspect in the USA, based on the demographics, most skeptics were first indoctrinated and then later moved past the indoctrination. If this educated assumption is correct then skeptics would be the ones who knew both sides of the coin (religious and irreligious). It explains why most skeptics I know are rather well-versed in the religions they find to be lacking.
My last article on religion mapped my progression from an orthodox religionist to an atheist. I truly believe that I am somewhat versed in most religions {not an expert, but one who can hold an intelligent conversation}. I agree with you that you shouldn't talk about religions you don't agree with unless you have at least a passing understanding of them.
I also think that for many, the association with a religious theology is important. If the individual finds solace in that faith and that helps that person to live by the principles we strive toward, all the power to that person.
It is equally important for the believer, however, to understand that a growing number of people do not need a religious theology to strive toward the positive principles. It is equally important to understand that if you are a believer, there are many paths to your god. A single rigid path is counter to the principles that I espouse in the article.
I occasionally speak of my father-in-law (a devout Catholic). The most decent person I have ever met - without question. I would never consider saying anything to him that would compromise the comfort he gets from his faith. He does no harm to anyone, does not push his views on anyone else, just lives his life being friendly and helpful.
That sums it up quite nicely.
Sounds like my kind of fellow.
My personal question is if we all ultimately believe the same principles, why do we have to attribute those princ iples to a god figure?
I would speculate that it may be the need for a authority higher than ourselves.
As many have mentioned, I find the basic tenets of humanity and respect for others negate the need (for me at least) for a religion. What we believe or do not believe is a personal matter which we all figure out for ourselves along the way.
He came to me when I was 17, He has been with me since and we have travelled a very rocky road together.
Thank you for saying so. In my case it was age 38.
Magnoliaave, though we do not agree much on politics, rocky road there, I am so glad to see you back here and coming back strong! Love seeing you around the various topics!
I've never really noticed if we agreed or not.
On my faith in God? No one, but no one can change it
Do I care if human understanding, blah, blah, blah....ancient Greece, ancient persia, ancient rome......blah, blah,
Big smile.
This is a topic I wanted to keep abreast of and I will admit something that is really pissing me off. Comments are not appearing on the "Private Notes" area like it should or once did. This two-step checking process is tasking my mind to keep up! As I have to remember to check the "Tracker" only to ferret out new comments appearing without a "jingle" on PN. I am really feeling a little sick over it!
Maybe it the number of us discussing and posting comments, and the system is being overtasked? I don't know!
"The Golden Rule / Law of Reciprocity – The cornerstone of religious and all human understanding. “Do unto others what you would have them do unto you.” – Christianity"
Actually, the "golden rule" predates the bible by at least several hundred years.
Code of Hammurabi: The earliest known law which was mankind's first recorded attempt at equality: "If a man destroy the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye. If one break a man's bone, they shall break his bone.
Ancient Egypt: "That which you hate to be done to you, do not do to another."
Ancient India: "by self-control and by making dharma (right conduct) your main focus, treat others as you treat yourself."
Ancient Greek: "Avoid doing what you would blame others for doing."
Ancient Persia: "That nature alone is good which refrains from doing to another whatsoever is not good for itself."
Ancient Rome: "Treat your inferior as you would wish your superior to treat you."
Islam: "None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself."
So the supposed "cornerstone of religious and all human understanding" does not originate with Christianity.
I'm a firm believer that the great principles that tie us together supersede religion and were just incorporated into religious texts because they were known to believer and pagan alike.
The saying "There is nothing new under the sun " could certainly apply here. Religion combines the known with the supernatural that provides a strong imperative to follow.
Great seed. It would be a much nicer world if more people lived by these principles.
Christian hypocrites seem more interested in a political agenda than in their own morality or decency. It has never been more evident with the rise of the extreme right since Bush was in office.
These cafeteria Christians said they supported Bush and made every excuse for every incompetent action of Bush and his entire administration which led to unpaid for wars and total economic collapse.
After Obama was elected they totally lost their minds and went even further than Bush and opted to totally abandon any morality or principle to elect Trump who is nothing remotely like Bush. Trump makes Bush look like a saint.
At least Bush had a decent family and I believe he genuinely was an evangelical sort. Bush did and still does charity work for AIDS.
I have not seen and will never believe that Trump would go to serve food at a soup kitchen the way Obama and his family does, Trump would never do as Jimmy Carter (a genuine church goer) and build houses for Habitat for Humanity, Trump never gets his hands dirty doing anything for the poor or in the way of actual work. Throwing paper towels at the crowd and signing his name to graffiti a wall in Puerto Rico is about as far as he will ever go.
I am totally sick at the thought of how so called "Christians" have completely pushed everything out of the way just to get their own way politically and it is proving to be the opposite of religion.
If the "Christian" right really wants to return to 1950, then they need to get out of politics because I don't remember anytime since then, (until Bush through Trump) where religion was used as a political weapon against the interests of the country.
Winning at all costs should never be a reason to wield religion against others.
Politics used to be about policies and now the abject hypocrisy of the right is undermining religion at every turn. Finally even the Pope is speaking out about the failure of people to embrace the poor, seek peace and not war, and love your neighbor.
Trump is not about Peace, Love, understanding, embracing the poor, or embracing neighbors. That is the proof positive the "religious" right have lost their way.
When we use the word God to substitute for the principles that good people all believe in and we anoint the appellation of the "Godly" with the automatic sobriquet of truth, we are defiling both religion and politics. This has reached the deepest of sewers under the Trump administration. The man violates almost every principle I talk about in this article. All we have to do is look at #3.....speak the truth and #10....do no harm to understand just how antithical he has been to uniting the world. It is critical that people see the truth and understand that ethics goes beyond religion and encompasses all aspects of life.