Did you lose your morals when you lost your religion?

[JayDeist]

Many theists hold the assumption that most people lose faith in their religion simply because they don't want to try to be good. They would rather choose to live their life wild and crazy, than follow the straight and narrow as God has commanded.

Non-Theists, have you lead a less "Christian" lifestyle since you lost your religion?

How were your morals affected by your decision to leave church?

If you lead a better, or more "Christian" lifestyle since your change of faith, what are the main reasons?

[Slopeshoulder]

I know people who IMO lost their morals when they became religous. Typically these folks are literalists and extremists, and they excuse god for all sorts of crazy and morally offensive things, expect most people to rot in hell, start oppressing all sorts of people, associate everyone else with satan, etc etc.

Ivan Karamazov suggested that without god all is permitted. But in reality this is false and most people find other sources of morality.

[Wootah]

Can I add to JayDeist's request: What immoral things have you done since losing your religion?

Let's not turn this into a 'there is no morality without religion post'. We have a few of those going right now.

Just what can you admit doing that you wouldn't have done because of your religion? Or the opposite what did you used to do that you don't do because of your religion?

For instance I used to be quite lazy and found proverbs to be very difficult to read and have changed somewhat in terms of my laziness.

[Mithrae]

I did indeed lose my morals when I lost my religion, or not long after at least (I've probably got the date recorded in a journal entry somewhere). What I didn't lose was my sense of empathy for other people, and indeed animals.

There were a few 'in between' years when I was trying to find my feet as a non-Christian, but comparing now with my Christian days I'd say there's not a whole lot of difference except in the area of sexual morals. On the one hand I'm considerably less likely to 'turn the other cheek' nowadays and have less respect for rules or authority, but on the other I'm much more willing and able to see other folks' perspectives and view them less as souls and more as people.

For anyone bored/interested enough, a couple of months ago I posted a list of my 'guidelines for life' for friends and family on Facebook (small profanity warning). I suspect the 'moral' differences would show up more in what I haven't written than in what I have.

[Question Everything]

After I no longer believed in a deity I developed a much better sense of morality than what I had when I was a Christian. I had to actually think about why things were right and wrong instead of accepting a list made up from the ramblings of people who lived thousands of years ago.

[McCulloch]

Well, I've become more tolerant of others' points of views.

I've had to think more critically about ethics and morals, no more merely deriving ethics from a single authoritative text.

Key Christian moral issues:

1. I am not more sexually promiscuous.
2. I have not been engaging in theft.
3. I am not any more or less angry.
4. I don't seem to be any more greedy or envious.
5. I am not any less lazy.
6. I don't over eat.
7. I have not committed murder since losing faith.
8. I attend fewer church meetings, sing and pray less.
9. I still don't profane God's name.
10. I don't keep the Sabbath.
11. I don't inquire whether the meat I buy has been sacrificed to idols. (I strongly suspect not.)
12. I still contribute to charities to help those in need.
13. My hair is still short.

[Deadclown]

To answer the opening post, I am if anything, a more moral person than I used to be. As religious feelings left, I became more aware of ethics, and spent more time studying them. I also took pains to mentally challenge myself. It was in essence a lot more self awareness of morality instead of thoughtless acceptance of whatever I was told should be 'right' or 'wrong'.

Wootah, I have a difficult time answering your question. Obviously my thinking now is different than it was then. The stance I have taken on the abortion issue and gay marriage alone would have been in disagreement with my prior uninformed irrational thought process. So I suppose that would have been 'wrong' from my former religiously controlled ethics. Likewise, I've had sex since then, which would have gone against my former idea that celibacy was appropriate before marriage.

My life didn't really change too drastically overall. Can you explain more what you are after with your questions?

[xenophyle]

I was catholic. The Sacriment of Reconsiliation (Confession) is meant to help the sinner focus on their sin, the cause of that sin, and encourage the sinner to make amends with both anyone who was affected and god. Now, I can't tell you how many times I skipped the part about apologizing and making amends to affected parties. These days I don't have a confessional to make me feel better. I have to directly apologize *and allow the people I hurt to define the circumstances.* That rarely happens in a confessional booth, where the focus is always turned toward my offense to god, not the affected parties. Without the sacrament I am forced to deal with the people I hurt if I really want absolution. And I might not even get it.

This makes me think twice before doing something unethical, whereas before I had the false comfort of the sacrament.

[JayDeist]

I think a loss of religion usually draws one to be a better person. If they are actively seeking information, and questioning things, they are bound to get a deeper understanding out of their position in this world. Being involved often times brings out the best in a person. The one I wonder about is one who loses their place in their own religion. The ones that are not doing what they need to in their faith. If they hold the position that Christianity is true, and says you need to act a certain way, and they choose to not go to church, and not go by these rules, because they would rather indulge in anti-christian lifestyle. Is that person immoral? Based on their own stance on the subject, they would be immoral.

[Wootah]

My life didn't really change too drastically overall. Can you explain more what you are after with your questions?

I just wanted to focus the question to what I thought was being asked rather than have it run the usual course of 'you don't need religion to have morals' discussion. It would have been a thread with people just saying 'oh no I didn't'. I wanted to see if we get people to be specific about what changed.

It might also serve as an opportunity to reflect on what we are becoming. I don't however think the thread can ultimately make people self-aware.

Specifically for me: After becoming a Christian I took life seriously. Do people now take life more or less seriously going from Christian to non-Christian? Do you take it more seriously now that you have only one life to live and less seriously as a Christian because you will live forever in Heaven or more seriously now because the consequences are eternal?

How can we more self aware of the changes that occur to us because of our ideological foundations?