Atheists have written their own version of the ten commandments. These commandments were chosen from submissions to Atheist Mind Humanist Heart’s (AMHH) Re-Think Prize, a crowdsourcing project…. As part of the crowdsourcing project, submissions were submitted to Atheist Mind Humanist Heart’s website. The submissions for new commandments were reviewed by the contest judges…and ten submissions were chosen that were deemed worthy of being called commandments. The ten writers of the chosen submissions split a prize of 10,000 dollars.
I’m not a Christian, but I’ve always liked the idea behind the Ten Commandments. Above and beyond any religious considerations, the Commandments are basically a recipe for getting along in this world. They’re excellent, common-sense ideas about how to live a life free of strife and conflict. Christianity isn’t the only faith tradition to employ a set of commandments/suggestions/pretty good ideas/common sense rules as guideposts for adherents, but the Ten Commandments are certainly the most recognizable theological construct.
Given the sounds ideas behind the Commandments, a few atheists began to wonder why we couldn’t do the same thing…and so they set about doing exactly that. The resulting online contest yielded what I think is the best set of rules for living I’ve seen anywhere:
- Be open-minded and be willing to alter your beliefs with new evidence.
- Strive to understand what is most likely to be true, not to believe what you wish to be true.
- The scientific method is the most reliable way of understanding the natural world.
- Every person has the right to control over their body.
- God is not necessary to be a good person or to live a full and meaningful life.
- Be mindful of the consequences of all your actions and recognize that you must take responsibility for them.
- Treat others as you would want them to treat you, and can reasonably expect them to want to be treated. Think about their perspective.
- We have the responsibility to consider others, including future generations.
- There is no one right way to live.
- Leave the world a better place than you found it.
I look at those, and my first thought is, “Yeah, I’ve got some work to do, don’t I?” Really, though, isn’t that what it’s about? Trying to live the best life you can and have the most positive impact you can on as many people as possible? That’s not a Christian, or even religious, point of view. That’s a very human point of view.
I can’t help but believe that our world would be a far better and more harmonious place if all of us endeavored to meet this standard, whatever perspective we might approach it from. The best thing about this thought experiment is that it demonstrates that God isn’t a prerequisite to being a good person. We can all be the best version of ourselves via whatever means works best for each individual. If that’s through God, then good on you…but belief in God isn’t the price of admission to this club. ANYONE can do it, which is what makes it so great.
Live and let live. What a radical concept, eh??
