How would you convince an atheist thief that stealing is wrong?

[af_newbie]

I am an agnostic but more towards atheism.

I was arguing with my religious friend and he said that it's impossible to lead a life without God's laws and set morals. And he asked me this question that how would I convince an atheist thief that stealing is wrong.

The thief is so smart and has made millions. Police, courts, judges are in his pocket. He can't get arrested. No harm to him. So he can't see why it's wrong for him to steal?

The best answer I could have thought of was "maybe someone will steal from the thief himself and that way the thief would consider stealing wrong". But he refuted saying the thief has bigly paid bodyguards and security so he's rich enough to not get robbed himself.

What's your take on this, share opinions

You basically described the ruling elite. But still members of the ruling elite believe in existence of God. No problem for these thieves.

And what if God commands to kill non-believers? What if God asks to give golden hemorrhoids as a sacrifice? Both of these things happened in past and more.

God doesn't command this. But if you really believe that He does, you better obey Him.

Btw, if you think the Christian God and the Muslim God are the same God, you are missing it.

How many Gods are there?

[tvbcof]

I dunno.  How would you convince a 'man of the cloth' that diddling little kids is wrong?

[Naida_BR]

When someone is a thief it is not a matter of religion but a matter of education.
It doesn't matter that this guy is an atheist. He is not educated that he should not do that and we have to blame their family at first - their parents - and in a second thought his teachers at school.

[madnessteat]

When someone is a thief it is not a matter of religion but a matter of education.
It doesn't matter that this guy is an atheist. He is not educated that he should not do that and we have to blame their family at first - their parents - and in a second thought his teachers at school.

You are right, we have been taught morals and norms of behavior through education and religion since childhood.

It is quite possible that this guy just denies morality because his parents suffered from this system and could not give this guy a decent education.

If such a person is not able to convince not to steal himself, it is better to seek help from psychologists.

[KonstantinosM]

Here's how to demolish his argument with an argument.


How do you convince a christian rapist that rape is wrong?

Rape is supported by the bible, you have a powerful man who has killed his male neighbors and taken all the females including the children. The rapist is really strong so that nobody not even the government can't catch him.

He uses the bible to justify his actions and claims that he acts according to god. He marries the now orphaned children and rapes them.



Or how do you stop a christian slave owner?

The bible does support slavery as well. Again with the same stupid argument the slaver is all powerful yadda yadda blah blah blah.



The reason why stealing and murder is wrong is because we live in a society. If stealing was allowed then there is a possibility that your stuff gets stolen. Everyone has an interest in not having their stuff stolen. So a thief like that will not only be stopped by the victims but by the sheer will of the people or those who have a duty to protect them.
(for example the police) or a mob of people who are sick of that shit.


Your friend's argument is dog shit.

edit: Spelling

[20kevin20]

But he refuted saying the thief has bigly paid bodyguards and security so he's rich enough to not get robbed himself.

At that point, the thief is relying solely on trust. He trusts the paid bodyguards, the bribed judges, the pulled strings just because of the money he has. At one point, the bodyguards themselves could steal and he would never even notice as the trust is too high - or the judges could be given an even higher bribe by a millionaire/billionaire to give that atheist thief a hard to digest sentence.

It's just common sense. You don't steal something somebody else has worked hard for. It's about being fair to everyone else. I never even thought of stealing as a sin or anything related to religion. It's a society thing really. How do you convince an atheist criminal or an atheist rapist that killing people or torturing them is wrong?

[BADecker]

How would I convince an atheist thief that stealing is wrong?


Send him to Russia or China, and let him start over from scratch.

Either he will be dumb enough that he gets executed (if he is lucky), or he will get into big government and destroy the whole country, himself included.

[Guryon_master]

Everybody knows in his heart that stealing is wrong. Knowing what's wrong isn't the point.

Absolutely!
why would  bother such kind of person if from the first place he already knew about.  I mean what's the point?  You can't  really convince him at all but I think you can help him by convincing him to accept it or else he will just keep trying to deny it.

[BADecker]

I am an agnostic but more towards atheism.

I was arguing with my religious friend and he said that it's impossible to lead a life without God's laws and set morals. And he asked me this question that how would I convince an atheist thief that stealing is wrong.

The thief is so smart and has made millions. Police, courts, judges are in his pocket. He can't get arrested. No harm to him. So he can't see why it's wrong for him to steal?

The best answer I could have thought of was "maybe someone will steal from the thief himself and that way the thief would consider stealing wrong". But he refuted saying the thief has bigly paid bodyguards and security so he's rich enough to not get robbed himself.

What's your take on this, share opinions

You basically described the ruling elite. But still members of the ruling elite believe in existence of God. No problem for these thieves.

And what if God commands to kill non-believers? What if God asks to give golden hemorrhoids as a sacrifice? Both of these things happened in past and more.

God doesn't command this. But if you really believe that He does, you better obey Him.

Btw, if you think the Christian God and the Muslim God are the same God, you are missing it.

How many Gods are there?

There is one God, the Creator of everything.

But every atheist holds himself up to be god simply by not realizing the Creator from viewing nature.

[samputin]

When someone is a thief it is not a matter of religion but a matter of education.

And may I just add that it's also a matter of being human.

You don't have to use biblical or religious verses just to convince an atheist that stealing is wrong. Yes, stealing is against one of the 10 commandments. But even without knowledge about the 10 commandments of God, one would know that taking something from others without their permission is wrong. How? Just by being human. Like, how would you feel if someone stole from you, right? Just by simply putting oneself in somebody else's shoes would allow one to think about his actions first.

Point is, regardless of religion, regardless of what one believes in, stealing is wrong.