True freedom. Part 2

True freedom

Part 2: There’s a lot more freedom the atheist wants – but is it really all about sex?

Then – and in tune with the first point –there is the freedom to make your own moral code. As an atheist, you reject the very concept of having to submit to a moral code – even a divine one – that has been imposed on you, and you have to follow it. Instead, using that integrity and awareness we mentioned earlier, you will decide for yourself what you regard as good and evil, acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. This desire to decide for yourself is, again, commendable, and surely preferable to blind or even fearful following of what those in authority say. Of course, part of the atheist outlook must be to take account of human frailty. With your mature, self-aware integrity, you will realise that human beings make mistakes. These have to be recognised, atoned for if you can by saying sorry to those you have wronged and recompensing them for what harm you have caused them, to the best of your ability. Sometimes none of this will be possible, and so all you can do is to – with honesty and integrity – come to terms with your mistake, accept it, try to learn from it and to forgive yourself – and, in most cases, you can give complete forgiveness provided you have a deep sense of the tragedy of life, and you are doing your best to be on the side of goodness truth and justice.

I think that the third element of freedom in the modern age that is so highly sought after is sexual freedom. Not many people desire the freedom to murder others or even to steal their property. People who are aspiring to be good – and the only valid defence of atheism is that you are using it as a way to be good – don’t even want the freedom to be mean, cruel, dominating or dismissive of others. It is sexual freedom that is desired, and this is probably the driving factor behind many changes in modern society. Now we must consider that this will have both good and bad elements, and must not automatically use the traditional religious negative view of sex as something that must be strongly curtailed. Nevertheless, in the assessment of changes to morality in society and the way that drives society in certain directions, then we should acknowledge that a large part of the change in morality is due to the desired changes in sexual freedom. We will need to consider how high a price has been paid, and what has been gained – and lost.