I became an atheist at the age of 14 because of a deep commitment to reason. No evidence for a god? Then I’m not going to pretend there’s a god. But one thing disturbed me: when it came to ethics, no secular thinker I encountered could offer a rational moral code.
Atheism is a negative: it’s the reject of a fantasy. But to live your life you need a positive—an ideal to strive for. Did reason really having nothing to say about what ideals are worth striving for? And, if so, was it any wonder that religionists seemed to hold the high ground on moral issues? That the best atheists could do was point out religious hypocrisy or cite ugly passages from the Old Testament, but could not offer a positive account of ethics?
Actually, it was worse than that. Most secular thinkers I encountered either rejected the possibility of an objective moral code, embracing subjectivism and relativism, or they touted a secularized form of Christian ethics. While claiming the mantle of reason when it came to God’s existence, they rejected reason when it came to man’s life on earth.
What I eventually discovered was that the atheists were wrong. There is a rational morality—and it looks nothing like the moral code advocated by Christianity.
The purpose of Earthly Idealism is to explain and defend a secular, objective moral code. One that teaches us, not to sacrifice for the sake of something greater than ourselves, but one that teaches us to make the most of our life.
In the meantime, tell your friends!