Expert: Austin Cline - 12/18/2007

Question
I have two questions. The first one is what is the difference between an atheist and a humanist? And the second is, how do you respond to the argument that religion makes the world a more moral and compassionate place, and without it people would just run wild and have no sense of right and wrong? Thank you.

Lisa

Answer
Atheism is simply the absence of belief in gods; it is compatible with many different philosophies and ideologies. Humanism is a philosophy which is often atheistic, but need not be.

Atheism 101:
http://atheism.about.com/od/aboutatheism/p/atheism101.htm

Humanism:
http://atheism.about.com/od/humanismtypes/

The argument you cite is both bigoted and false. It is bigoted because it presumes that secular atheists cannot be moral and that's no better than presuming that Jews or blacks cannot be moral. It is demonstrably false because there is no evidence that religious people or societies are  more  moral than more secular people or societies. The percentage of atheists in American prisons is lower than in the general population. Secular European nations rate higher in life expectancy and quality of life than religious America.