Atheist Forum

Science shows that rape exists in the animal kingdom, such as in chimpanzees, as a mating strategy.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4905588/

As a human, I find rape to be morally reprehensible, but if an atheist believes he is just another animal, how can he find rape to be wrong if it increases his odds of producing offspring?

For that matter, science cannot prove that anything is morally right or wrong, it only shows what is. So while an atheist may believe that rape is morally wrong, his belief doesn't come from science, but rather from faith in something that can't be scientifically proven or disproven.

I would therefore ask an atheist where his belief that rape is morally wrong comes from. If he claims it merely comes from whatever his culture's morals are, this to me suggests that he is not a very moral person, because if his culture didn't prohibit rape, then he would have no reason not to do it, and many people have attempted to change cultures which allow moral ills such as rape and slavery into ones which did not.

Nightfm wrote: Wed May 13, 2026 8:52 pm Science shows that rape exists in the animal kingdom, such as in chimpanzees, as a mating strategy.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4905588/

As a human, I find rape to be morally reprehensible, but if an atheist believes he is just another animal, how can he find rape to be wrong if it increases his odds of producing offspring?

For that matter, science cannot prove that anything is morally right or wrong, it only shows what is. So while an atheist may believe that rape is morally wrong, his belief doesn't come from science, but rather from faith in something that can't be scientifically proven or disproven.

I would therefore ask an atheist where his belief that rape is morally wrong comes from. If he claims it merely comes from whatever his culture's morals are, this to me suggests that he is not a very moral person, because if his culture didn't prohibit rape, then he would have no reason not to do it, and many people have attempted to change cultures which allow moral ills such as rape and slavery into ones which did not.

Interesting you picked rape and slavery which are used as punishment and condoned by the christian god. Oh, and by the way, objective morals exist independently of any "mind", so any morality from any god is subject to their mind and also to interpretation by the religious. Unless you can list a moral law that exists on its own, outside of any being's mind, your ill-formed argument is just piss in the wind.

Why haven't you choked to death on air?

Nightfm is banned for breaking the rules.

Rule 2 (Spam): Hit-and-run proselytizing.

Rule 3 (Proselytizing): Allowed only as long as intelligent discourse follows.

Rule 10 (Trolling): Deliberately posting messages meant to provoke emotional responses without engaging.

Pappy wrote: Thu May 14, 2026 10:41 am Nightfm is banned for breaking the rules.

Rule 2 (Spam): Hit-and-run proselytizing.

Rule 3 (Proselytizing): Allowed only as long as intelligent discourse follows.

Rule 10 (Trolling): Deliberately posting messages meant to provoke emotional responses without engaging.

I think students of the con artist's "field" of apology get extra credit for each time they do a hit and run. I often think about the high church clergy during the middle-ages, eating feasts, wearing fine robes and collecting money from the poor because they claimed some special knowledge of pure mythology. So, we still have these modern-day posers with private jets and mansions. The religious are morons.

I find it so depressing when people say that because humans are animals (they are - compare and contrast a human to other great apes - there's a very, very clear resemblance in terms of morphology and genetics), it implies that humans should behave as animals do, which is nonsense. It's like arguing that a space shuttle is a type of missile and therefore, NASA should bomb countries with space shuttles. It's textbook is/ought fallacy. It doesn't follow, and it never has. It's one of those sorts of arguments one makes when they're very young or very stupid or very indoctrinated - I'll let the lurkers decide which.

Animals largely exist in the wild, where the name of the game is survival of the fittest - passing on genes is the number one priority. By and large, they do things that to us are sensible, like taking care of one's offspring. But sometimes, they do things that to us are morally repugnant. Humans by and large no longer exist in the wild, and the name of the game - the purpose of life - is a mystery and arguably, up to us to decide. And since humans require a certain level of freedom, especially freedom from harm in order to pursue our goals, we have collectively decided that certain behaviors should be avoided due to the great personal and societal harm they cause, hence rape is illegal. This is one of those things that's very, very easy to figure out.