History of Atheism and Morality

The perverse and cruel atheist Marquis de Sade in prison, 18th century line engraving.


Not possessing a religious basis for morality, which can provide a legitimate basis for objective morality, atheists are fundamentally incapable of having a coherent system of morality.


For example, atheists have been the biggest mass murderers in history (see: Atheism and mass murder). Dr. R. J. Rummel’s mid estimate regarding the loss of life due to atheistic communism is that communism caused the death of approximately 110,286,000 people between 1917 and 1987.


The Barna Group found that atheists and agnostics in America were more likely, than theists in America, to look upon the following behaviors as morally acceptable: illegal drug use; excessive drinking; sexual relationships outside of marriage; abortion; cohabitating with someone of opposite sex outside of marriage; obscene language; gambling; pornography and obscene sexual behavior; and engaging in homosexuality/bisexuality. Given the many diseases associated with homosexuality, the biblical prohibition against homosexuality is quite arguably one of the many examples where the Bible exhibited knowledge that was ahead of its time.


In 2014, a University of Kentucky study was published by Will M. Gervais, which was entitled Everything Is Permitted? People Intuitively Judge Immorality as Representative of Atheists, and the study indicated that “even atheist participants viewed immorality as significantly more representative of atheists than of other people.”