how is that immoral, and please try to forget about the browny points idea.
Theists do what they perceive as good deeds in order to fulfil God's will and to earn salvation; atheists do them simply because it is the right thing to do.
Is this also not our most elementary experience of morality? When I do a good deed, I do so not with an eye toward gaining God's favour; I do it because if I did not, I could not look at myself in the mirror. A moral deed is by definition its own reward.
The only way to show true respect for God (and hence be truly moral) is to act morally while ignoring god's existence.
1. Doing good because of Jannah. Motivation: reward; this is immoral
2. Doing good because of Jahannam. Motivation: fear; this is immoral too
3. Doing good for the sake of it. Motivation: because it is the right thing to do; this is the only true moral stance
I would also like to quote The tailor here - I completely agree with his views on this:
At the level of morality, I DEFINITELY agree that to be truly "moral", we must ignore any form of God-as-superego -- any form of God as a judge that stands outside of reality, ticking boxes. The moment we imagine such a "father-figure" creator, we land ourselves in all kinds of trouble. To be truly moral is to understand that, ultimately, judgement is whatever your have chosen your life to be -- judgement IS your life as your free will has determined it, and morality is absolutely internal and constructed by you and you alone. To understand this is to be self-aware and entirely responsible for the choices we make: we never make them because we will get a "naughty tick" or a "nice tick" from an external observer.The Super-Ego is CERTAINLY a law (a shariah-of-selfhood). It is formed from the Oedipus Complex and thus derives from a primal fear of castration from a "Father" figure's authority. Approximately, it is a kind of internalized father-as-law. For a LOT of religious people, the Super-Ego IS exactly God: a pure judgement that presides over every action we make, and insists on his law. As you probably understand, a malformed super-ego can be very unhealthy -- creating such a God for ourselves that is pure fear of judgement ... is not a good thing and can lead to all kinds of mental pathology. Lacan is very useful at this point in terms of his understanding how a "healthy" negotiation of the Complex can be made ... but the model ceases to be precisely Freudian.
Topic: Hi from on the fence muslim