Atheism, Morality, and the Great Insult

My feeble mind is gradually coming to understand the full, radical implications of atheism. And as I discover these, I cannot help but be incredibly insulted.

An atheist who still holds to some notion of morality (and most at least try to) is forced to admit that our inward moral inclinations are nothing more than genetic tricks played upon us by the process of natural selection to aid in the propagation of the human species. If I love my wife and feel that it is right to be faithful to her, this is because the impersonal, blind force of evolution has hard-wired me to think this way so that humankind will continue to dominate other forms of life. Monogamy is not "right" in the sense that it reflects some sort of supra-natural absolute; it is "right" only in that it coincides with my genetic make-up. The theist then asks, "And why ought I to do be moral if my morality is rooted in nothing more than chemicals, genes, and blind chance?" A good question, in my opinion.

This is where Nietzsche boldly declares the full implications of atheism. There is no objective "right" and "wrong." All that exists are "brute facts." Morality, then, is the ability to master these facts and no longer be hampered by petty moral codes. Pity and compassion are sins because they are signs of weakness. Morality is the "will to power" -- the ability to grab life by the balls and shape it according to your own will. In other words, Mother Teresa is not only stupid (for she fails to recognize her concern for the poor as a trick of nature), she is also downright evil (since she wrongly devotes her life to a cause which is incongruent with nature's brute facts).

This atheist line is all, of course, logically consistent. If you are willing to look at the genocide in Darfur and say "It is not evil. It simply is," then at least you are being true to your own philosophy. This atheist must be willing to look at a young man who gave up a better paying job, a more comfortable life, and a safe neighborhood for the sake of living incarnationally among the poor and say, "Poor misguided, Greg. He's devoting himself to a lie. He doesn't understand that he is a misfiring, a mistake of nature." (Richard Dawkinks calls "the urge to kindness -- to altruism, to generosity, to empathy, to pity" a "blessed" Darwinian misfiring).

Well I say to you, Mr. Dawkins, that I find that to be rather insulting. Fortunately for you, I believe it is a moral imperative to not retaliate when others insult you and mock you and say all kinds of evil about you. In fact, I believe that I ought to bless you and pray for you in spite of your huge insult. And, lucky for you, I believe that these imperatives come to me not from blind chance, but from the One who holds in his hands all Goodness and Beauty and Truth. Therefore, I forgive you and I hope you don't think it foolish of me to do so.