John C. Miller wrote "(A)theists are not void of belief. How do believers think atheists keep themselves out of trouble in this world?" (Readers' Forum, May 24)

Keeping oneself out of trouble isn't ethics. Miller didn't use the word "ethics," but the Deseret News headline writers did. I'm not sure what atheists believe, other than that there is no God, but without faith in something greater beyond this life, it's pretty tough to give a reasoned argument for a number of virtues. If we are nothing more than chance occurrences in nature, all of our feelings and thoughts about morality are just evolutionary artifacts that should be rejected in favor of getting more than everyone else — more money, more power, more fun, more life — and nobody else matters. By this reasoning, we should each do whatever we think we can get away with.

C. S. Lewis was an atheist for a time, but he was also very learned and, more important, very wise. It occurred to him that much of the way we think has nothing to do with survival of the fittest. We all have certain standards that seem built into us, like our sense of what is fair or the value we place on self-sacrifice and courage, which are defined by ignoring threats to one's own survival.

What is the purpose of life, if there is no life to come? A friend who is an atheist tells me that it is to have as much fun as possible.

Maybe I'm dense, but without the concept of a God of justice, love and mercy, the concept of ethics is without a foundation.

Allen S. Thorpe

Orangeville

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