Bill Gates Is Good Without God, Are You?

by Brijesh Chauhan on November 2, 2010 · 18 comments

Secular student alliance has started a new bus ad campaign. Their message is very clear, you don’t need to believe in invisible man sitting in the sky to be Good person. You can be good without your imaginary friend.

Bill Gates Philanthropy - Good without God Bill Gates, after creating the most successful company around, must have asked himself “Now what”? He started philanthropy foundation in 2000 and he did the best that he could with all his power. You got to love this man for his noble work no matter if you are Apple fan or Microsoft hater.

Warren Burrett Philanthropy - Good without God

Warren Buffett decided in 2006 that he would donate almost all of his fortune to charity, all $40 billion of it! Buffett’s children will inherit a tiny fraction because he believes that money rightly belongs to the people, and should not be used to construct a familial corporate dynasty.

Donating large sums to worthy causes is not the only or even most important way a person might be “Good” but it is undeniably one of them. Perhaps for some people religion really does inspire them to help others and if it does, great. Just don’t imagine it is a requirement. Some people are good with God. Some, like Gates and Buffett, are just as good without God. So its not about where you are getting your morals from but how good your morals are.

Tagged as: atheism, Bill Gates

Pingback: Tweets that mention Bill Gates Is Good Without God, Are You? | Brijux -- Topsy.com
Rex

Better to charity’s than to a church.

Brijesh

@Rex,
Always true.

Evan

I love that the name of the website, http://www.secularsamaritan.com is based purely and wholly on the parable of the Good Samaritan from the Bible. I would venture that while these people deny God’s existence, their morals remain resolutely based on the Christian values which Jesus taught. Wonderfully naive idea! The domain name earns it a total FAIL!

Brijesh

@Evan,
Sorry to break it down for you but its the other way around.

Good people don’t get their morals from religious books, but instead, religions tend to observe “Good” things in general and then write it down in their books so that religious people can follow it. Human kind is not dumb enough that it can’t tell difference between Good and Bad. Our brain has evolved to tell that difference without referring to a book.

And regarding the domain name, it seems that you didn’t get the pun out of it. Way to go!
Julie Eyrich

I’m a recovering Christian who now is agnostic. I consider the bible a disgusting hate book. It was written by a bunch of chauvinist, archaic men who wanted to keep slaves and oppress women, the gay community, animals and anyone else that doesn’t believe that the bible is the word of God.

Michael Ruse, a philosopher of science explains best:

“Morality is a biological adaptation, no less than our hands and feet and teeth. Considered as a rationally justifiable set of claims about an ‘objective something’, ethics is illusory. I appreciate that when someone says, ‘love thy neighbor as thyself’ they think they are referring above and beyond themselves. Nevertheless, such reference is truly without foundation. Morality is just an aid to survival and reproduction, and any deeper meaning is illusory.”
http://slrman.wordpress.com James Smith João Pessoa, Brazil

While I agree with the sentiment. I question if Bill Gates is really good. None of is charitable contributions have affected his lifestyle in the slightest nor will they. I also have to consider his predatory and legally questionable business practices. Maybe he should have put some of the money toward making better software so as to make more lives better.

I don’t know enough about Warren Buffitt to comment. But anyone that makes that much money has almost certainly engaged in practices that might not have been the best for all concerned.
http://slrman.wordpress.com James Smith João Pessoa, Brazil

You might note that the “Good Samaritan” was not a christian. You might also note that the entire christian religion is founded upon lies. “Christian Morality” is an oxymoron.

Michael

“You can be good without your imaginary friend.”

Especially if you get to define “good” which is a very easy thing to do with $26 billion and denying any sort of supreme being’s definition of “good”.
xandra

good works cannot save us…only God!

Anonymous

Please, never go to doctor when you are sick. Medical field is the result of good work which you do not believe will save you.

I want you to only pray and not get any medical treatment when you are sick. We will see at that time whether your God can save you.

http://www.tiffanyoutletusa.com tiffany co outlet

Your article looks great!Thanks for you sharing. I love it.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ashley-Nae-Ward/1242014512 Ashley ‘Nae Ward

You are most definitely right: those men ARE good without God.
But, it’s not like being good is going to save, you end the end.
However, who am I to judge what people need/want to think in order to do the right thing? I’m sure to them it only matters that they’re productive citizens in the end, and, as it’s not my business, that’s fine with me.
(Though, may I just say to the commentors below: ignorance is as ignorance does. That being said, and really making no sense at all, I’d like to say, your comments are… More than slightly biased. Please keep in mind there is a difference between Catholic and Protestant’s. And, then, dividing the churches even more, there are differences between those churches doing the work of God for him and for themselves.)
(ALSO, to Julie: You’ve obviously had some bad relationships with churches and the Bible, as, the Bible I know and love is not a book of hate. You’ve also obviously been reading in the Old Testament, which we don’t live in anymore, but, I’m not here to preach, though, it seems like I’ve done quite a bit of it. So, I’ll say this and take my peace: God hates the sin, not the sinner. That’s about it.)

Anonymous

Ashley,

I am sorry to break it down to you but most of the sins are done by religious people these days. And I don’t encourage anybody to follow a book written by an ancient dude thousands of years ago. Its just stupid (Sorry for using that language but I couldn’t think of a better word.)

Why use all the human energy praying for something that doesn’t exist? You can put that time in volunteering the real problems of the world.

Why make all the mega mega churches and raise funds to build more religious buildings? Don’t you think its morally wrong to spend all this money in useless things when children are dying of hunger in other countries? Where is your humanity in that case?

Why do religious entity gets tax cut? In my opinion, all religious activity should be charged 300% tax.

Brent

For the peple who say only “god” can save you, where’s your proof? Other than you own unfortunate brainwashing, I mean.

Anonymous

Lets just call them stupid and not waste our productive time on those idiots.

Ankit mangal

does god told you to make churches…..and also god never told to worship him whole day…..he just told that do better and get better….hard for an atheist to understand….
waggawagga

hi Brijux

As you mention on your page that u r atheist. Whats your view about Indian great Guru OSHO.