Expert: Margaret Placentra Johnston - 7/29/2009

Question
Where do Atheists drive their sense of morality? if it is not developed by the church, and without religious influence by parents, are the children who are raised without religion sure to turn out deficient?

Answer
Some atheists, to be sure, are without morals.  But many/most who have actually thought through their beliefs sufficiently to call themselves atheist have moved beyond the need for moral rules supplied by the church.  Such people are self-regulating and their morality comes from something deep inside themselves.  

To such people, the rules of a church, or even the ten commandments seem superficial and too black and white. For example "Thou shalt not steal."  Well, there are cases where it might be better to break this commandment - like in the now famous "Heinz" case presented by Kohlberg.  In this theoretical example, Heinz's wife was dying but there was one drug available that could save her.  Only one pharmacist had this drug and his price was very high.  Heinz did not have the money for this drug and the pharmacist refused to lower the price.  So the question was:  in this case, which is more moral - for Heinz to break the "though shalt not steal" commandment and steal the drug - or obey the commandment and let his wife die?  This type of situation describes moral concerns that go beyond the type of morality that can be dictated by church "rules." If church rules are "conventional," then this type of morality that allows for the need to sometimes make painful and difficult decisions that go beyond the rules can be called "post-conventional."  

Atheists at the post-conventional level derive their sense of morality from being able to trust their own instincts and powers of reasoning more reliably than they can trust a bunch of black and white rules set out by a church.  This is something that conventional (and pre-conventional) people often mis-understand about non-believers.  Because the conventional people NEED the rules of a church to keep their behavior in line, they often preach vehemently against (or try desperately to convert) anyone who does not belong to their religion.  They simply cannot understand that some people do not need these moral rules to be good.  

As for the children of atheists, one would only hope that post-conventional atheists are able to somehow pass on their self-regulating skills (and internal sense of morality) to their children in such a way that they do not grow up to be "deficient.*"

*If one subscribes to the spiritual development stage theory (see http://www.exploring-spiritual-development.com/Spiritual-Development-Theorists.h...) one would understand that, through the example of their parents, most likely the children of principled, post-conventional atheists will pass through (beyond) the conventional stage where they need such rules at an earlier age than will the children of conventional parents, who can only model a less sophisticated form of morality.