Ten Commandments for the Atheist

Guest post by, Eldtirchfan

So recently I find my mind turning back to that Star Trek TNG episode “Who Watches the Watchers,” where the primitive people mistake the Enterprise crew for gods, then predictably start killing one another to please said gods. When Picard and Co have one of their conferences there’s a moment where someone suggests a stabilizing influence might take place if they play along and hand down some commandments.

Which itself got me thinking. The Ten Commandments are oft touted as the best example of morality there is. I beg to differ, but if I were in a situation where I had to impose a bunch of rules on a primitive society, what would they be?

I’m talking about a one-shot visit where I’d never be back to explain or interpret, and the rules themselves couldn’t be questioned.

I tried for ten commandments, but I could only think of four:

1)      Minimize harm

2)      Question, learn and discover

3)      Individual freedom and self-determination is the highest good

4)      Change is inevitable, but it can be shaped, for well or ill

I thought of tossing in “Ponies and ice cream for everyone!” just to round stuff out, but decided to play it straight.

You might notice these are bit on the vague side and open to interpretation. That was deliberate. I left lots of room for philosophical thought and debate as to how these could get applied in real life. For the first one, I didn’t put ‘do no harm’, because that’s impossible. The prohibitions against lying, stealing and murder are covered in 2 and 3, which I think give a more positive message.

Any suggestions on further commandments, please add in the comments.