<There is an assumption of moral inadequacy by some towards non-believers that can hurt children in many ways, large and small.>
My atheist mother [president of Rationalist Association here], [long deceased], recounted the story to me of when she was out taking some incapacitated old person for a walk [in their wheelchair]. They met a woman who chatted a while and then took her leave saying, "Well, I must get on with my good Christian works" and my mother replied, "And I must get on with my good atheist works".
The woman, astonished, said surely my mother wasn't an atheist. My mother explained "Oh yes. We atheists have to be so much more moral than you Christians because we don't get foregiveness and have only this life in which to be good".
It must be so cool to swing by confession after a blow-out, get a dose of absolution and head out to the next week, fully rejuvenated with a clean slate. Then, after a life-time of sinning and foregiveness, ending up being waved through the pearly gates.
We atheists do it tough. We have to be good in the here and now and make this world better. There's no paradise somewhere else to escape to, complete with 70 virgins, joy and eternal bliss.
Mqurice |
