Of all the stupid, in fact preposterously stupid, arguments put out by "believers" this is probably the most stupid of the lot. You think that you have nothing to fear in any life after this, so there is no payback in the life to come. Usw, usw, usw!
A one-word reply - to be polite - "Nonsense"!
I would be inclined to argue the reverse.
Examine the psychology of the atheist, the rationale of the atheist, and the probable ensuing conduct of the atheist.
Q: How many lives do you have?
A: One.
Not two (or more in case of those creeds that are into reincarnation). So you get one shot at this existence. It is up to you to make the best of the one chance that you have. There is no replay coming up where you can try again.
I often wonder what sort of society these "believers" live in. If I decide to take a gun and shoot somebody or walk into a bank and receive a couple of million Euro from a frightened bank clerk, I can get away with it?
To repeat for seemingly the zillionth time, we have something called the CIVIL LAW. The CIVIL LAW applies rules, passed in democratic societies by elected representatives, which apply to all and sundry regardless of their belief system.
In a country like where I live now which has regulations passed under the CIVIL LAW which will not entail me being put to death for committing a serious offence, that means being locked up in a prison for a very long time if I commit such a crime, and get caught and prosecuted.
And what sort of company do you get in such an establishment? Usually not the sort of company that you would be happy to meet at a neighbourhood barbecue. The grimmest, angriest, most vicious, meanest, most brutal and possibly the most stupid people you would ever want to meet. And if you are a man of course, they will all be male - no female company to lighten your psychological burden. And you want to spend 20 to 30 out of your 70 year span with people like that? A greater portion of your one 70 year span wasted like that?
Huh????
So if you want anything positive from this one existence, does it make sense to spend much of it locked up in unpleasant often desperate company. And if you are a food and drink freak please realise that there is no pâté de foie gras and Bordeaux AOC to be had in jail!
Risk it, you might get away with it. You might manage a really good life on the proceeds of one large robbery? Follow the story of the Brinks-Mat gold bullion robbery some time - see link:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/the-curse-of-the-brinks-mat-gold-bullion-robbery-829220
Really worth trying? Serious criminals usually get caught. The police may botch up the pursuit of small-scale burglars once in a while, but the serious stuff is usually resolved - although diminishing the numbers of policemen and women does usually lead to a rise in unsolved crime (now I wonder which of the US Presidential candidates is proposing cutting the police service, and a clue - it isn't Obama!).
The fact that you will probably get caught and locked up with some desperate individuals is the best reason for a rational person not to break the civil law, and most atheists are rational people!
If on the other hand you have a belief system that says you can always ask for forgiveness for your wrongdoings, that cop-out clause means that you might try the odd thing or two, realising you can get off the hook later. At least IMHO. And then, even though it flies in the face of the CIVIL LAW, you might claim that you are doing it in the name of Jihad, so it is actually the will of Allah! After all by that thinking the civil law is less important and relevant than Sharia usw.
No stats are available to me on this, but the logic rings down bright and clear. I am reaching the end of my life, I have had 47 years as an atheist or as an an atheistically inclined agnostic. To date the desire to break the civil law has never possessed me. While I know that arguing from a particular case to the general breaks the fundamentals of Aristotelean logic, I will for once use that to justify my position, knowing that I am by no means the only law-abiding atheist out there!
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