Morality is a decision of conscience, not necessarily religion

Right now, somewhere, people are dying for their religion. This is nothing new; people were… Right now, somewhere, people are dying for their religion. This is nothing new; people were killing each other over who was more righteous long before today’s major religions were even created.

Because of the unprecedented violence and just general weirdness of the past century, some people are holding on more tightly to their religious beliefs while others are abandoning theirs. This is where I find myself. If monotheism is Coke and polytheism is Pepsi, then atheism is 7Up, the un-cola of religions.

All tasteless metaphors aside, atheism gets a bad rap. The first thing that comes to many people’s minds is that if you don’t believe in God, then you don’t have any morals. For many nonbelievers, including myself, morality is a decision of the conscience. Concepts of right and wrong are personal regardless of whether someone wrote them down in a tidy 10-point list.

But it does raise an interesting idea. Since I neither believe in a supreme deity nor any kind of afterlife, I could kill another person without fear of eternal redress. And if I could escape legal consequences, there would be no penalties at all. But of course I would never do that because hurting people is wrong and that’s just all there is to the matter. My brain tells me not to harm anybody so I guess it’s a biological thing. I don’t really care at any rate. It’s natural to love and be considerate, and I didn’t have to subscribe to a religion to figure that out.

Realizing without a doubt that there is no one in control of the world was a painful thing for me to swallow. I have no purpose for being here, anything I do or feel is ultimately negated after I die, and after death there is nothing waiting for me. I simply cease to be.

Perhaps the hardest thing to deal with was the fact that when the people I love and cherish die, they don’t go to heaven to watch over me until I meet them again. I don’t get to be with the people I love forever.

These are dismal but empowering truths for me. I wasn’t put here for a purpose – fine, I’ll make my own. Since there is no reward or punishment awaiting me after I die, I will make the best of the short time I have to live. There is absolutely no reason to not do what will make you happy once you realize that you are the only one in control. There’s nothing to be afraid of either, when you really get down to it. The world has not fallen apart around me since I disavowed all religious beliefs. As an atheist I am responsible to myself, my fellow living creatures and no one else.

It is truly heartbreaking to see so many lives wasted in the world. I do at times really wish there was a place where everyone went after they died and got to enjoy everything they wanted to in life. I especially want my family and friends to get all that they deserve and more. But there’s nobody for me to pray to and ask and there is no heavenly reward for all the good they have done. This makes it all the more imperative that I do everything I can for those I care about. In a wider scope this also means that I should do what I can for anyone who needs it.

I’m not trying to sound preachy. The irony of that would cause me to asphyxiate right here at my computer. Faith is a beautiful thing and I am not so jaded as to think that there aren’t religions that allow their followers a lot of personal freedom. If religion makes a person happy without hurting anyone else then I certainly won’t piss on his or her beliefs. I just want to make it clear that atheism is not an empty, nihilistic take on life. Disbelief can sometimes open one’s eyes.

If Seth Steinbacher were a soda he would be Mr. Pibb. Drink your fill at ssteinbacher@pittnews.com.