Letter: Athiests are doing good without a God

The Gazette quoted me accurately in the July 23 article, 'Being good without God”: 'The common element here is ‘atheist,' or lack of organized religion or God. If you look around the table, we're all very diverse in so many other things. We don't all agree on the same things.”

There are those who would agree with JoLynn Glanzer's comment ('Can one be good without God,” Aug. 4): 'Good and evil are not relative concepts to be decided on an individual's whim.”

However, very mainstream religions have, in fact, changed very basic concepts over the centuries, and even in immediate current times. The Inquisition has long been stopped, as has support for slavery. In more current times, the hot-button issues of abortion and same-sex marriage have split current mainstream religions, and some mainstream religions are in current debate about this and other 'relative concepts.” Religions split and fork into subgroups over important 'relative concepts” on a constant basis.

Atheists are precisely the same as those who believe in organized religion, except that we do not rely on God.

Niles Ross

Cedar Rapids