Why Atheists Can Be Moral
By: Leslie A. Zukor
Leslie Zukor and her squirrel, Fluffy
I am disappointed that people believe that godlessness played a part in the downtown shooting. As the leader of the Reed Secular Alliance, a college atheist, agnostic, and secular humanist group, I can attest that the vast majority of non-believers are good-natured, law-abiding people. For example, I know a group of humanist college students who went down to Louisiana to rebuild houses destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
Personally, I spend hours donating freethinking books to atheist prisoners as part of the Freethought Books Project. The non-believing inmates I correspond with express an earnest desire to reform and contribute meaningfully in this one opportunity they have at life.
Secular humanists, unlike murderers, realize that morality comes out of our human obligation to treat others as we would like to be treated. Instead of attacking atheists, Russell Mathews would do better to spend his time making the world a better place.
