Where did I get my morals from?

Where did I get my morals from?

The most typical question every atheist gets from theists.

Well lets see,
I was born in 1984, in Greece, a country where Christian Orthodox church does whatever it wants, from being protected by law, to manipulate the law, to indoctrinate children at school.

I was baptized as one as well, since it is the typical thing to do here even in this time and age.

 This is my and how much my tiny one year old self tried to protest this ritual.

In this photo album with 26 pages and approximately 4 pictures on each, I was cry in the 20 of those pages, I also had thrown up, grabbed the priest from his beard and as you can see twisted and turned a lot.

I still consider this (after 29 years) a child abuse...



So, on with this part of my life, fortunately for me, my mom was far from a devoted christian, and she hardly ever forced my brother and I to go to the church, and around the age of 16 I found myself thinking that I have never ever asked or prayed to the christian god for anything. Couple of years later I simply realized that religion was a burden to me with all the rules and the guilt trip so I became an atheist.

Some might argue that, "ohh you were a christian so your morals MUST come from the bible", well no, not really.

My Morals come from: 

- My mom, a person who never really read the bible, but had read a lot of books of how to raise a child. Most important of her teaching still lead my life and are the following:

1. Don't do to others what you don't want others do to you
2. Respect so to be respected
3. Be courageous and voice your opinion, but don't be rude

- A single teacher in primary school who said to us one day: 

• Your freedom stops, where someone else's freedom starts.

These are the 2 real people who built my morals as a child, the next morals I will list, all derive from fictional characters in books, video games, and Japanese animated series. 

- Tsukino Usagi from the Japanese animated series "Pretty guardian Sailor Moon". A 14 years old girl, who found herself being a super hero fighting evils in the world from one day to another, a person who was naive and weak at fighting but with a pure heart and kindness like no other's. Even in the final battle where all her comrades, friends, and everyone she held dear were killed, she still refused to hate her enemies, and always tried to persuade them to change their mind, and open there hearts to her so she could purify them.  

• This taught me, that no matter what happens, to never forget my morals, and never wish someone else harm. 

- SonGoku from the Japanese animated series Dragonball. An alien who was sent as an infant to earth so to grow up and destroy the planet, but after hitting his head very hard, all those thoughts were erased from his brain along with his own name. He grew up learning martial arts, with the help of his alien blood he was becoming stronger and strong in every fight, but he never used his strength to hurt anyone, just like Usagi, he was naive and refused to fight unless it was truly necessary. He was courageous and was not afraid to die in battle if that would save the world he loved.

• This taught me, that no matter how strong you are, you must always calculate, how to use that power and if that affects others. 

 
- Thrall, from the video game Warcraft. An Orc who grew up as a slave to humans and fought as a gladiator for then until he escaped. When I played Warcraft III, I instantly liked Thrall who had to make many decisions that, would save his own people and later the whole world. His decisions based on reason, and also his attempt to put aside old hatred and fight along side with his enemies to save the world make him one of the most righteous characters in my list.          

•  This taught me, about diversity, racial and otherwise, and that if ego and selfishness are put aside then great things can be achieved. 
• Another lesson from the game as a whole, is that when you do not listen to reason, and only hear your ego, the worst can happen, like in the case of the other main character of the game Arthas, who only wanted to take revenge, and ended up destroying his own kingdom, which he tried to protect in the first place.   

- Drizzt of the Forgotten Realms book series. Drizzt is a dark elf, who was exhaled from his own birthplace after he refused to obey orders that send him to a genocide of another elf race, his new home became an unwelcome place, where everyone hated and feared his bloodthirsty race, and he had to fist isolate himself and then gain the trust of the his later "family" of a dwarf king, a human girl, a barbarian boy, and a halfling thief. 

• This taught me, the bad effects of racism, how hard someone has to fight for acceptance, and that for someone to be accepted they have to put their ego aside. 

So no I never needed religion to get my morals, the above examples, are the strongest of many more that built my personality and morality through the years.
And if I had kids would definitely let them play Warcraft any day than tell them to listen to a religious preacher. 

And last but not least, if you can't separate good from bad then you lack empathy, not religion. 
You can get teachings from everything around you, as long as you have your eyes (and brains) open to absorbing new things. 

with regards from an atheist

~karu~