Are atheists immoral?

No, atheists are not immoral by default. They are like every other human being on the planet, dependent on their surrounding and upbringing as some sort of guideline. To understand this clearly, we have to know where morality stems from, whether or not it is subjective or objective, whether what is immoral here is immoral all over the world. Once we answer these questions, we can easily see how atheists are not necessarily immoral, if not, more moral than the theists.

Morality is subjective. It is sole dependent on the person committing an act, not the act itself. We live in a society which I call a land of collective subjective morality. The society we live in dictates what is moral for that land. However, with the advancement of social media and World Wide Web, the world has shrunken into a broad global village. A person living in Ireland can easily discuss issues about morality with someone living in Pakistan. The discussion of these matters can be collectively discussed throughout the world. Hence, we can decide what is moral and what is immoral with each other through social media and come to a very logical and sane conclusion. For example, we all agree that murder is wrong irrespective of place and time. And we also agree that self-defense is not murder. We learn this through trial and error, through extensive discussion and experience.

We learn something is wrong by judging rationally with logic; not because a higher being tells us what is wrong or right. If morality was objective, people all over the world would have come to the same conclusion about situations. For example, pedophilia was acceptable in the Middle East during the Mohammedan time period. But, now, it is deemed as not only immoral but a severe act of assault. Similarly, the Korowai tribe of Western New Guinea practice cannibalism but the rest of the modern knows that it is highly an immoral and disgusting act. These differences of our perception regarding the same action confirm that our morality is subjective, not objective.

Now that we have established that morality is subjective, we can discuss if atheists are moral or not. Yes, atheists are not immoral by nature. Because their perception is guided by the society and culture they grow up in as well as their own sense of judgment. They are fairly educated enough to understand that their actions bear consequences. In the contrary, theists act the way act because of some so-called divine book they believe. The difference between theists and atheists is that the former is dependent on someone else to guide their judgment while they latter is not. If the only thing that is stopping theists from starting a murder spree is their God, can they really call themselves moral? Atheists learn to understand that it is wrong irrespective of godly intervention. We are not accountable to the non-existent Supreme Being; yet, we refrain from doing a crime. So, can you call atheists immoral?

The short answer is, no.