By Shannon Murphy

Am I immoral? Some would argue so. Not because of my actions, of course, or because of what I say, but because of what I believe—or rather, what I don’t believe. I don’t believe in a God, a heavenly being, a higher power. For me, there is no white light at the end of the tunnel, no saving grace, no holy salvation. And I’m fine with that. But I don’t think I should be judged because of it. I don’t think I should be considered innately less moral than the devout Christian standing next to me because she has “faith.”

I recently attenda lecture given by Deborah Stone on morality and public policy in which she emphasized the necessity for a community to maintain “faith” in order to be morally sound. Her philosophy was challenged by a Bryn Mawr student, Caroline Troein ‘09, who asked what the professor’s response was to the fact that many of the nations perceived as the most kind and charitable were also considered the least religious. Needless to say, Stone’s response was minimal. This conversation sparked my interest because it reminded me that even today, in a society that considers itself very much enlightened, we can still be very close-minded, especially when it comes to religion.

In speaking to a fellow atheist friend about the Stone lecture, the topic of morality and religion at Bryn Mawr came up. My friend told me that she had been confronted by another student who knew her to be an atheist. This woman asked my friend, similarly, how she could be both atheist and moral. Where did her moral values come from if not from the Bible? This frightens me. It’s hard for me to imagine that even at a place like Bryn Mawr people could be so uneducated about atheism.

Morality comes from an understanding and respect for mankind and above that for living creatures in general. I know many atheists who are strong supporters of animal rights, human rights, and environmental preservation. It’s an innate preservation of species and respect for the earth that gives us our morality, rather than a book.

I have been an atheist practically my entire life. I was raised Roman Catholic, and the rest of my family still is, but even as a young child I questioned the faith that I saw in those around me and in the texts I was reading. I would demand answers in catechism that could not be answered. Finally, I realized that my problem was that I didn’t have faith. I’ve never had it. I was unable to accept something that in my mind was a delusion clung to for safety and reassurance.

I don’t doubt the faith of others; in fact, I am sure that some of my family are very sincerely devout. I accept their choice to believe, and, for the most part, my family has accepted my choice not to believe. But does this difference between us make me less moral? Do I go around performing lewd and devious acts against the innocent? No. Do I steal and lie for personal enjoyment? No. In fact, if I did believe in God, I would be an arguably honorable Christian by today’s standards. It is interesting then that only four years ago I was fired from a position simply because the woman employing me discovered that I was an atheist.

Do we consider the religion of an American when we judge their actions? Rarely. It’s only once we know their religion that we judge in comparison. A woman who donates her time every weekend to a homeless shelter is a good citizen, but a Christian woman is a good Christian. An atheist who donates her time every weekend to a homeless shelter is considered unusual. But is she really? Would you be surprised to find out that many Americans consider Atheists to be the least American individuals in the country?

Consider the following: According to the Barna Research Group, there are 36 million atheists and agnostics in America—that’s one in 10. Yet according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, these people only make up .2 percent of the prison population, or one in 50. This would imply that atheists are, on average, less violent and criminally prone than Christians.

Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Woody Allen, Lance Armstrong, David Bowie, Noam Chomsky, Marie Curie, Richard Dawkins, Joyce Carol Oates, George Orwell, Guy Pierce, Karl Popper, Ayn Rand, Carl Sagan, Kurt Vonnegut, and Joss Whedon are/were all atheists. Katharine Hepburn herself, in a 1991 interview with Ladies’ Home Journal, said, “I’m an atheist, and that’s it. I believe there’s nothing we can know except that we should be kind to each other and do what we can for each other."

Murphy, a senior math and English double major, can be reached at smurphy@brynmawr.edu.

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