Can an atheist be moral?

For this discussion, I want to explore one of these two question sets:

1. If many religions say many different things, can there be a single Truth? What is the Truth? Can there be different kinds of Truth? Are religions seeking the truth or is there some other purpose. If religions are seeking the truth, what makes it different than science? Which employs a better method of attaining the truth?

2. Are religion and morality inextricably linked or can one be a moral person without a belief in supernatural laws and punishments? Can an atheist be moral? Does adherence to a religion’s norms and restrictions without question make one a moral person? Is morality determined by obedience to a belief system, regardless of a fear of retribution? Are gods good models for moral behavior?

Give examples.

When giving your comments make sure that you cite your sources. You may only use the assigned sources, i.e. Holloway, primary and/or secondary documents that are provided, and lectures.

Holloway Chapters 1, 2, 3 ,4, 14, 37, 38, 39 (These chapters can help you answer the prompt and help you cite)

To cite texts, use this format (author pg#), e.g. (Holloway 17). To cite primary documents cite the author of the document and page number, if available, or if no author is available the first significant word of the documents, e.g. (Psalms 7:5). For the lecture, give the instructor along with the lecture number and slide number: (Colling lecture/slide #) e.g. (Colling 2/47).

Respond to at least one other student’s posting. Do not just agree with someone. Say why you agree with them and cite sources. The intent of the discussions is to exchange ideas with each other and debate where your ideas conflict. Feel free to disagree and, of course, you must detail why you disagree. Just be kind about it.

Think of this as a brief essay. Your initial post should be about two double spaced pages and the response to a fellow student can be a couple of brief paragraphs that add significantly to the student’s posting or is an argument against what the student has said. The best approach is to type your work in an outside document and then to copy and paste it into the Discussion. This way you can spell check and you’ll be more inclined to read it over for coherence before you post. (Once you paste it, it will no longer be double spaced, but don’t worry about that.)

Here are a couple of added sources you might want to look at. They represent differing views:

https://www.thoughtco.com/einstein-quotes-on-ethics-and-morality-249859 (Links to an external site.)

http://evidenceforchristianity.org/can-there-be-mo…

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2015/11/why-scientific-faith-isnt-the-same-as-religious-faith/417357/ (Links to an external site.)

http://theconversation.com/why-science-and-religion-arent-as-opposed-as-you-might-think-56641 (Links to an external site.)

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/truth/ (Links to an external site.)

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hide-and-seek/201808/what-is-truth