mingbop
LRichard, I use the word god because it's a hell of a lot easier to type than all the other various words used! lol Look on "god" as a generic name for all those other weird and wonderful words in this thread lol!
God??
Richard
I do too, usually. It doesn't have a clear meaning, but it's convenient.
gregory
I DON'T, as it carries too much baggage !
mingbop
This is what the Left Luggage Office is for, gregsy 
Richard
Are you a 'ghost?' A 'ghost' is one who, when asked if they are religious, answer, "No," quickly adding in the same breath, "but I am very spiritual." This, of course, is supposed to reassure the interrogator that they do have moral standards in spite of their irreligiosity. What I don't understand is why atheists are considered amoral, when the truth often may be the exact opposite. I hate to think that when people do something good, their main motivation is fear: an attempt to get brownie points with god in order to decrease the probability of their going to hell.
gregory
No - what I mean is that I don't use the word god, as people make assumptions about what is meant when you do use it. (Not that I do say I am very spiritual. On the whole someone who swears like I do can't really say that, IMHO
)On the whole, though, I think atheists' morals hold up better, as they have actually thought about what they are doing, while so many so called religious people even admit, when asked, that they try to be "good" because "god says you have to be", kind of. I would never assume an atheist was automatically amoral. I wouldn't assume a self-styled religious person was automatically moral either. The various religions have all in their time caused hellish nasties in this world, nay on the NAME of that religion.
ravenest
yes! and (who? ... prob Rumi said; ) If I do good works solely to get to heaven, let me be cast into hell.
Its pretty obvious to 'atheists' who do good works .... they dont need a REASON to do them ... IMO that makes the 'believers' look pretty bad when they say we would all degenerate without religion.
Even Abdul Baha ( the son of Baha ullah ) - once the leader of the Bahai Faith - said that religion was the prime motive and force for mankind but if it lead man into error it should be abandoned (I was a Baha'i when I first read that and ...
)mingbop
Good post gregsy. And I can confirm that gregory is not a ghost, in face she stood stoutly beside me in a very haunted ghostly place once! lol
gregory
This is true. It was WELL scary.
After we came out, the one person who had been most sceptical, and went into the one place we had been advised NOT to go in there, was almost run over by a van - something which had also happened to someone who tried to disrupt the place years ago...But I really feel very strongly about the fact (to me) that REAL morality comes form the individual, NOT from some religious superstructure.
Zephyros
That depends on how you define morality. Even secularly we are influenced by the Judeo-Christian mindset, although we find non-religious reasons to find justification for why we think we are right. The human-sacrificing Aztecs did not lack morality nor were they a backward people, they simply had a different moral code.
