Study Shows Atheists Have As Much Of A Moral Compass As The Next Person

One of the criticisms of atheism (from theists) has long been “how can you know how to act if you don’t have a god telling you what’s right or wrong?”

In fact, around 45% of people across the world think that a belief in God is necessary to be moral and have good values.

To which atheists have typically replied that they have no trouble figuring out morality without the help of religion.

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Well, according to this study, the atheists have been right on this one.

Scientists out of the University of Chicago dug into the relationship between moral values and religious belief by surveying 4,622 atheists and theists in America and Sweden, and study author Tomas Stahl said they had some very convincing results.

“The most general take-home message from these studies is that people who do not believe in God do have a moral compass. In fact, they share many of the same moral concerns that religious believers have, such as concerns about fairness, and about protecting vulnerable individuals from harm.”

The studies in this paper to into consideration people’s endorsement of liberty/oppression, amoral tendencies, as well as the five foundations of the Moral Foundations Theory: care/harm, fairness/cheating, loyalty/betrayal, authority/subversion/ and sanctity/degradation.

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The data from US residents found that religion was unrelated to amoral tendencies or endorsement of oppression, and was unnecessary for people to score high on foundations like care and fairness.

That said, atheists were less likely to connect morality to things like deferring to authority, sanctity, and loyalty to the group as a whole.

“It is possible that the negative stereotype of atheists as immoral may stem in part from the fact that they are less inclined than religious people to view respect for authority, ingroup loyalty, and sanctity as relevant for morality, and they are more likely to make moral judgements about harm on a consequentialist, case by case basis.”

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Results that included data from Sweden, a far more secular country, followed the same pattern of results.

The takeaway is that you don’t have to believe in god to have a strong moral compass, but atheists are more likely to equate morality of actions with their consequences, instead of their effect on the group as a whole.

Rest easy, non-believers.

Your moral compass is just fine.