Atheists' Ten Commandments Revealed.

[retromike22]

http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/19/living/atheist-10-commandments/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

1. Be open-minded and be willing to alter your beliefs with new evidence.

2. Strive to understand what is most likely to be true, not to believe what you wish to be true.

3. The scientific method is the most reliable way of understanding the natural world.

4. Every person has the right to control of their body.

5. God is not necessary to be a good person or to live a full and meaningful life.

6. Be mindful of the consequences of all your actions and recognize that you must take responsibility for them.

7. Treat others as you would want them to treat you, and can reasonably expect them to want to be treated. Think about their perspective.

8. We have the responsibility to consider others, including future generations.

9. There is no one right way to live.

10. Leave the world a better place than you found it.

[Deus Naturae]

This is just stupid. Atheism is not a belief system, and people who try to turn it into one (almost always molded after their own beliefs) do all atheists a disservice. Also, #6, 7, 8, and 10 all contradict #9.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Yeah, I don't like it when groups tend to come up with imitations of significant points of other groups.  Number 4 is a bit problematic, since it seems to me to be a clear attempt to weigh in on the abortion issue, yet you get diametrically opposed results from following it depending upon whether you view the unborn as people.

[retromike22]

Number 4 is a bit problematic, since it seems to me to be a clear attempt to weigh in on the abortion issue, yet you get diametrically opposed results from following it depending upon whether you view the unborn as people.

Also if you're in a coma or a vegetative state.

[H. Ross Peron]

These aren't atheist 10 Commandments, these are modern 21st Century secular socially liberal humanist 10 commandments.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

Much like with Eazy-E's last verse in 'Appetite for Destruction', not all of these are actually commandments. 1, 2, 6, 7, and 10 clearly are, and 4 and 8 imply imperatives, but 3, 5, and 9 are just observations.

[afleitch]

Much like with Eazy-E's last verse in 'Appetite for Destruction', not all of these are actually commandments. 1, 2, 6, 7, and 10 clearly are, and 4 and 8 imply imperatives, but 3, 5, and 9 are just observations.

Imperatives and observations are actually preferable to 'commandments.'

[bore]

Much like with Eazy-E's last verse in 'Appetite for Destruction', not all of these are actually commandments. 1, 2, 6, 7, and 10 clearly are, and 4 and 8 imply imperatives, but 3, 5, and 9 are just observations.

Imperatives and observations are actually preferable to 'commandments.'

What's the difference between an imperative and a commandment?

The definitions on the internet are:

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So I can't see the difference.

[Antonio the Sixth]

The effort that American atheists put in codifying their belief is truly bizarre.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

What's the difference between an imperative and a commandment?

I was using the words interchangeably. I too am wondering on what basis afleitch considers them different enough to hold that one is preferable to the other.

[afleitch]

What's the difference between an imperative and a commandment?

I was using the words interchangeably. I too am wondering on what basis afleitch considers them different enough to hold that one is preferable to the other.

On the basis that no human, strictly speaking can 'command' another in thought and deed in the manner in which god allegedly can.

[DemPGH]

Reminds me that I never got around to reading The Good Book. I've read parts of it and have seen excerpts, but never cared to sit down and read it.

Whatever you want to call them, The Secular Commandments or Observations or whatever are at least a reminder of the extent to which the Ten Commandments are applicable to an ancient culture very far removed from us today.

[afleitch]

Reminds me that I never got around to reading The Good Book. I've read parts of it and have seen excerpts, but never cared to sit down and read it.

Whatever you want to call them, The Secular Commandments or Observations or whatever are at least a reminder of the extent to which the Ten Commandments are applicable to an ancient culture very far removed from us today.

And that's what's quite jarring actually. Yes, it's a silly thing to try and better, but so what if people try? Why sneer at it, given the fact that the Ten Commandments are split into those designed to massage a godly ego (including parental honour) and the rest are self evident?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Not only that, but if you're going to ape the Decalogue, you might as well pull them in a similar order as much as possible.

3. The scientific method is the most reliable way of understanding the natural world.
    I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me.

5. God is not necessary to be a good person or to live a full and meaningful life.
   You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them.

1. Be open-minded and be willing to alter your beliefs with new evidence.
   You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

(Hard to believe they omitted one reminding us of the need for rest and renewal, but then a lot of people today of all beliefs forget that.)
    Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

8. We have the responsibility to consider others, including future generations.
   Honor your father and your mother.

4. Every person has the right to control of their body.
   Thou shalt not murder.

7. Treat others as you would want them to treat you, and can reasonably expect them to want to be treated. Think about their perspective.
    Thou shalt not commit adultery.

(I think they were trying too hard to avoid duplicating the originals if they didn't include any analogue of this one.)
    Thou shalt not steal.

2. Strive to understand what is most likely to be true, not to believe what you wish to be true.
    Thou shalt not bear false witness.

6. Be mindful of the consequences of all your actions and recognize that you must take responsibility for them.
    Thou shalt not covet.

9. There is no one right way to live.
    (This one's more of an anti-commandment.)

10. Leave the world a better place than you found it.
    (The original ten commandments were a guide to how to do exactly that.  They were supposed to be commandments, not a mission statement like this one is.)

[Associate Justice PiT]

This is just stupid. Atheism is not a belief system, and people who try to turn it into one (almost always molded after their own beliefs) do all atheists a disservice. Also, #6, 7, 8, and 10 all contradict #9.

     Indeed. Atheism is at its core a denial of the existence of God, and nothing more. #5 is the only one of these commandments that I would say is integral to atheist "theology" above or beyond that of any other "religion".

[DemPGH]

3. The scientific method is the most reliable way of understanding the natural world.
    I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me.

You're obviously forcing square pegs into round holes.

The scientific method explains nature based on what is found in nature (i.e., Newton). Not the imagination. And that's why the scientific method works. That's how we explained retrograde motion, to name one thing.

Reminds me that I never got around to reading The Good Book. I've read parts of it and have seen excerpts, but never cared to sit down and read it.

Whatever you want to call them, The Secular Commandments or Observations or whatever are at least a reminder of the extent to which the Ten Commandments are applicable to an ancient culture very far removed from us today.

And that's what's quite jarring actually. Yes, it's a silly thing to try and better, but so what if people try? Why sneer at it, given the fact that the Ten Commandments are split into those designed to massage a godly ego (including parental honour) and the rest are self evident?

Yeah, and whoever and whenever Moses was, if he indeed was, WHY did God pull him aside and tell him what to tell everyone else? In other words, what made him right and all the cultures and their stories wrong?

[DC Al Fine]

Reminds me that I never got around to reading The Good Book. I've read parts of it and have seen excerpts, but never cared to sit down and read it.

Whatever you want to call them, The Secular Commandments or Observations or whatever are at least a reminder of the extent to which the Ten Commandments are applicable to an ancient culture very far removed from us today.

And that's what's quite jarring actually. Yes, it's a silly thing to try and better, but so what if people try? Why sneer at it, given the fact that the Ten Commandments are split into those designed to massage a godly ego (including parental honour) and the rest are self evident?

I dispute that the latter commandments are self-evident. People on this forum have argued that adultery isn't always wrong for example.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

3. The scientific method is the most reliable way of understanding the natural world.
    I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me.

You're obviously forcing square pegs into round holes.

The scientific method explains nature based on what is found in nature (i.e., Newton). Not the imagination. And that's why the scientific method works. That's how we explained retrograde motion, to name one thing.

Analogies are never exact.  The first commandment of the Decalogue calls for holding God in primary reverence while the third commandment of this set calls for placing science in that position.

[Marokai Backbeat]

The effort that American atheists put in codifying their belief is truly bizarre.

I agree. In my experience this sort of attempt at injecting some sort of dogma into atheism tends to come from left-leaning 20-somethings.

I suppose I can see how some people would miss having a way to lord their supposed moral superiority over others.

[Panda Express]

These are kind of boring but I guess they're better than "SUNDAY IS HOLY!" and "I AM JEALOUS! DON'T WORSHIP ANYBODY ELSE!"

[Türkisblau]

Another example of the ridiculousness of modern atheism. The desperate attempt to take some sort of moral high ground is, frankly, hilarious.

[afleitch]

Another example of the ridiculousness of modern atheism. The desperate attempt to take some sort of moral high ground is, frankly, hilarious.

As opposed to the other, literal moral high ground which has so many layers of ridiculousness to it.

[°Leprechaun]

Christmas is a holiday for Christians. Should atheists be celebrating it?

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

These are kind of boring but I guess they're better than "SUNDAY IS HOLY!" and "I AM JEALOUS! DON'T WORSHIP ANYBODY ELSE!"

That's only the first 4. What about the last 6?

[afleitch]

These are kind of boring but I guess they're better than "SUNDAY IS HOLY!" and "I AM JEALOUS! DON'T WORSHIP ANYBODY ELSE!"

That's only the first 4. What about the last 6?

Last six? what about those the immediately follow in Exodus 21?