Question for atheists - do you hold Chiristians to a higher moral standard?

[pete6032]

If you are an atheist, do you hold Christians to a higher moral standard than you hold other atheists to?

 

[Bitek]

Only the self-professed arbiters of morality.

Regular folk? Same as any other person.

 

[Enigmoid]

No.

That said I consider myself agnostic but leaning strongly toward atheism.

Edit: If you think you are righteous and good, religious or not, I will expect better from you.

 

[_Rick_]

I hold everyone to my own moral standards. Equally.

 

[Blackjack200]

If you are an atheist, do you hold Christians to a higher moral standard than you hold other atheists to?

No, but I will criticize hypocracy, and that might be seen as holding Christians to a higher moral standard, even though it's really not.

For example, I have no problem with pre-marital sex, but I would criticize Bristol Palin for continuing to push abstinance as she expects her second extra-marital child. If Palin remained celibate while pushing those views, I would still disagree with them, but could not really criticize her personally. (This is also an excellent example of when an ad-hominum attack is a legitmate device.)

 

[IronWing]

I hold everyone to my own moral standards. Equally.

This is the essence of having a moral standard.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

I hold everyone to my own moral standards. Equally.

This is what I do as well.

 

[stormkroe]

No.

That said I consider myself agnostic but leaning strongly toward atheism.

Edit: If you think you are righteous and good, religious or not, I will expect better from you.*

*And you are probably not a Christian, or at least have an utter lack of understanding of its core.

 

[stormkroe]

No, but I will criticize hypocracy, and that might be seen as holding Christians to a higher moral standard, even though it's really not.

For example, I have no problem with pre-marital sex, but I would criticize Bristol Palin for continuing to push abstinance as she expects her second extra-marital child. If Palin remained celibate while pushing those views, I would still disagree with them, but could not really criticize her personally. (This is also an excellent example of when an ad-hominum attack is a legitmate device.)

+1

 

[tracerbullet]

I hold everyone to my own moral standards. Equally.

Same here.

Intent of poll is a mystery.

 

[Jaskalas]

Define "Hold to a higher moral standard"....
Do I think many fall short of and/or betray the principle lesson of Jesus?
Hell yes they fall short. Makes them at least hypocrites...

But if anyone isn't doing what they preach - I'd treat them equally.

 

[justoh]

If anything one should "hold them" to a lower standard, like one normally already does when it comes to culpability of the mentally deficient, in law or in personal judgment of their actions. What an idiotic question.

Would be sensible to ask if we hold them to a lower standard. Arguably we do since all of us know of otherwise virtuous people who, for example, disown their children because of abortion or homosexuality or whatever. We think it's sad and suppress our contempt for them because their actions are based on sincere belief. We can even say they are well-intentioned with their bigotry (maybe they will "turn around" or "be saved" - doing it for their own good, etc - or in any case can't be judged to harshly for merely wanting to protect their own salvation). Religion makes good people think and do bad things, so sensible people direct this contempt towards the religion rather than the religious. In that way they're held to a lower standard.

 

[IronWing]

If anything one should "hold them" to a lower standard, like one normally already does when it comes to culpability of the mentally deficient, in law or in personal judgment of their actions. What an idiotic question.

There's the P&N we know and love.

 

[justoh]

I still love you, ironwing, even though you appear to be religious or a religion apologist, for you know not what you do.

 

[Newell Steamer]

Where is the "I am Christian and I hold Chiristians to a higher moral standard" option?

I find it deplorable that Jesus' name and message is used by so called Christians to bash those they fear and hate.

It's disgusting and inexcusable.

 

[Blackjack200]

Where is the "I am Christian and I hold Chiristians to a higher moral standard" option?

I find it deplorable that Jesus' name and message is used by so called Christians to bash those they fear and hate.

It's disgusting and inexcusable.

Yeah, he left out 'I am a raging moron'

 

[sandorski]

No.

That said, I will often use their standards or the Bible's standard(at least an interpretation) against them to point out hypocrisy in their positions.

 

[kia75]

Priests, Rabbis, nuns, ministers, etc You bet I hold to a higher standard. Your average minister should be more moral then your standard person. But then, IMO, people places in public trust should be more moral then others. So IMO, counselors, policemen, etc should be more moral and trustworthy then your average person. As recent news stories have shown us, policemen aren't more moral, but they should be.

The average Christian though, probably has never really thought about morality and is just as moral as any other person. Actually, they're probably a bit less. Doing stuff for a "greater good" tends to over-rule morality, this is why religious zealots are more likely to do suicide bombings or kill abortion doctors.

 

[WHAMPOM]

I expect those that preach morals, honesty and forgiveness to practise them, so far I have only seen this in the Amish.

 

[pete6032]

I expect those that preach morals, honesty and forgiveness to practise them, so far I have only seen this in the Amish.

 

[Annisman*]

This poll reminds me of the first chapter of C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity. Every man seems to hold other men to some sort of standard or moral code, but where did it come from and what does it really tell us about ourselves and our maker...

As a Christian I do hold other Christians to higher standards because they have the truth in them, or as the Bible would say they are the salt and the light. We need to be living as much like Christ as possible to show a lost world that there is hope. I expect other Christians to hold me to that standard as well, as I grow older I find Christian fellowship to be one of the most powerful tools that we have.

All Christians need to be careful of judging others, as, simply put there is only one true judge and we are not Him.

C.S. Lewis: “The bad psychological material is not a sin but a disease. It does not need to be repented of, but to be cured. And by the way, that is very important. Human beings judge one another by their external actions. God judges them by their moral choices. When a neurotic who has a pathological horror of cats forces himself to pick up a cat for some good reason, it is quite possible that in God's eyes he has shown more courage than a healthy man may have shown in winning the V.C. When a man who has been perverted from his youth and taught that cruelty is the right thing does dome tiny little kindness, or refrains from some cruelty he might have committed, and thereby, perhaps, risks being sneered at by his companions, he may, in God's eyes, be doing more than you and I would do if we gave up life itself for a friend.

It is as well to put this the other way round. Some of us who seem quite nice people may, in fact, have made so little use of a good heredity and good upbringing that we are really worse than those whom we regard as fiends. Can we be quite certain how we should have behaved if we had been saddled with the psychological outfit, and then with the bad upbringing, and then with the power, say, of Himmler? That is why Christians are told not to judge. We see only the results which a man's choices make out of his raw material. But God does not judge him on the raw material at all, but on what he has done with it. Most of the man's psychological makeup is probably due to his body: when his body dies all that will fall off him, and the real central man, the thing that chose, that made the best or worst out of this material, will stand naked. All sorts of nice things which we thought our own, but which were really due to a good digestion, will fall off some of us: all sorts of nasty things which were due to complexes or bad health will fall off others. We shall then, for the first time, see every one as he really was. There will be surprises.”

 

[sandorski]

This poll reminds me of the first chapter of C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity. Every man seems to hold other men to some sort of standard or moral code, but where did it come from and what does it really tell us about ourselves and our maker...

It comes from our brain.

 

[DigDog]

i find that most "believers" have mental problems, so i actually expect worse of them.

 

[justoh]

i find that most "believers" have mental problems, so i actually expect worse of them.

You mean like these people? http://www.killsometime.com/videos/11516/Street-Fighter-II-Church-Edition

 

[Murloc]

I know what the bible theoretically says and I have no issue pointing that out. It's not like I care if a christian isn't following it literally anyway, on the contrary, the less literal one's faith is, the better.
I just don't like hypocrisy.