Feb 22, 2010
Morality and Atheism in Pakistan
From Salman Hameed of Irtiqa:
Kudos: It is not often that we see an article (more accurately, an op-ed piece by a regular columnist) in a Pakistani newspaper mentioning atheism in a positive light (or at least not in negative language). True, this mention is in Dawn, an English language daily with relatively liberal tendencies, but still, it’s great to see such a perspective even brought up.
Here is Irfan Husain’s “Morality and Atheism”:
… the firm belief in religion and an afterlife in our part of the world do not necessarily translate into better societies.
In the Transparency International table for global perceptions of corruption for 2009, there is not a single Muslim country in the 20 most honest states. However, seven Muslim countries figure among the 10 most corrupt states.
Interestingly, Sweden, the most godless state in Europe, comes in at joint third with Singapore as the least corrupt country in the world.
There is an argument that corruption is a function of poverty, and once societies have acquired a measure of economic well-being, they tend to become more honest and accountable. While there is some truth to this assertion, how to explain the fact that Saudi Arabia, one of the richest countries in the world, is listed as 63rd by TI?
And Kuwait comes in at 68. Clearly, then, there is little direct linkage between religion and morality.
Nevertheless, billions around the world continue to believe deeply in the faith they have grown up in. They derive comfort from following the belief system of their forefathers, and most of them have never felt the need to question it.
Husain may be ignoring some of the nuances in using religiosity and corruption indices for whole countries; nevertheless, I’m glad that he is making this point. (For a more detailed analysis of why some countries are more religious than others, check out this post and this article by our friend Tom Rees of Epiphenom).
As far as arguments for morality without religion, check out this short segment from a Marc Hauser talk:
A few years ago I did a very non-scientific survey of “facts” based on what was readily available to me online. This included finding the best list I could of the countries with the highest atheistic populations then finding those countries on a list of the murder rates. The sources I ended up with were adherents.com and nationmaster.com. I supposed there would little to no correlation between the two, but in fact found a strong tendency for countries with large atheistic populations to have low murder rates. There are all sorts of statistical problems with my survey, but given a couple of the exceptions to this rule, I think my original hypothesis was correct… there is little to no correlation between one’s religious beliefs and one’s morality. I’m guessing that while some people might refrain from immoral acts to get rewards or avoid punishments described in their religious texts and teachings, more often than not, religion is an afterthought or secondary consideration.
Likewise, there are other motivations outside religion that play into people’s choices. A good reading about how morality plays a part in evolutionary psychology would likely shed some light on these motivations.
I find it encouraging that people in Pakistan, created out of India as an Islamic homeland might voice such an enlightened view about atheism and morality as found in the quoted piece.