How is it that some atheists are good people?

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How is it that some atheists are good people despite not believing in God?

Take, for example, me and my brother, we were both born Christians and more specifically Catholics, my brother is a wonderful man even though he sometimes behaves like an as*hole

But despite everything, he is a very good man, and he is an atheist, he does not like the church and the Catholic church in particular, and about other Christian denominations he says that they are hypocrites

l also have a friend whom I met on one of our Polish forums for people with psychological problems, I am an Asperger Syndrome and my friend ADHD says that his wife probably has Asperger.

He said that at school they were both outcasts and they fell in love, that because of their common stupidity she got pregnant at the age of 16, she told him that she could go to abortion.

He felt so badly offended that she might even think that he would like her to undergo an abortion, that despite the whole situation, he would decide to give birth, that he would support her for the rest of his or her life, but it's her decision.

Now they have several children together, he does not go to church because he thinks that God does not exist, at least that which the Bible speaks about, but when the issue of liberalization of abortion law in Poland is raised, he always supports "pro-life" and supports wife, all anti-abortion petitions organized by the Catholic Church in Poland or Protestant churches, even though he is not a believer himself

He says you don't have to be a Christian to be decent

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/inde ... 616AA6E1E1

Why not?

I've known many people who believe STRONGLY in God who were really not good people.

"Religion is an insult to human dignity.  Without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things.  But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion." -- Steven Weinberg

Mr. Weiberg is an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in Physics for his contributions with Abdus Salam and Sheldon Glashow to the unification of the weak force and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles.

The OP seems like a decent person....but where and how does he come up with this stuff?

So, being excellent at physics means he is an expert in all things?
Now that is a concept and a half.

I feel the same way about Einstein, btw.

I've never noticed any correlation between people's religious believes and their goodness - one way or the other, there are too many other factors in play.

I cite the source to enable a better-informed choice for you and others. Mr. Weinberg is also an atheist.

I'm sure you and Fnord know that Einstein wasn't an atheist... in fact his most famous quote on the topic (when asked if he was a pantheist) is one of the most effective bitchslaps for hubristic atheists ever written.

Your question is the most difficult in the world. It is not a question I can answer simply with yes or no. I am not an Atheist. I do not know if I can define myself as a Pantheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. May I not reply with a parable? The human mind, no matter how highly trained, cannot grasp the universe. We are in the position of a little child, entering a huge library whose walls are covered to the ceiling with books in many different tongues. The child knows that someone must have written those books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books, a mysterious order, which it does not comprehend, but only dimly suspects. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of the human mind, even the greatest and most cultured, toward God. We see a universe marvellously arranged, obeying certain laws, but we understand the laws only dimly. Our limited minds cannot grasp the mysterious force that sways the constellations. I am fascinated by Spinoza’s Pantheism. I admire even more his contributions to modern thought. Spinoza is the greatest of modern philosophers, because he is the first philosopher who deals with the soul and the body as one, not as two separate things.

When you read a bit about the catholic church, you'll realize that the question needs to be: how is it that some people associate themselves with the church in some way or other, yet are good people?

^^^ Agreed.

Also agree with BenderRodriguez.

There are good people in the Catholic Church.....but it has had almost 2,000 years of accumulated corruption. It's hard to get rid of all that ingrained crap.

^^^ that, too.

Don't be ridiculous, Kortie.
Next, you will be saying "The Spanish Inquisition" was a bad idea.
Next, you will be calling god a mass murderer for creating the 40 days and 40 nights flood to cleanse the world of dirty filthy sinners.
Oh my!

Quite frankly, religious people and their boss scare the bejesus out of me.

the general decline of christianity across europe has more or less spared poland.

OP claims religion/god is the basis of all morals. all i have to ask him is this:
if you weren't religious, would you have an objection to murder??

if yes: your argument is bunk

if no: ....thank god you are religious

The Spanish Inquisition WAS a bad idea.

The 40 days/40 nights thing.....I probably shouldn't take that too literally.

As I implied:
Einstein should have kept to his field of expertise, imo.
I haven't come across any individual who was brilliant in all things.
Not even me.
I suspect he had "Illusory Superiority". <facetiousness>
<musing>
Who would have thought I am smarter in some areas than a mathematical genius?