Atheists in Heaven? Sign of shifting moral zeitgeist?

January 2, 12:22 PMAtheism ExaminerTrina Hoaks

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A survey conducted in December of 2008 by The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life yielded results that suggest that there are “believers” who think that non-religious people as well as atheists can go to Heaven. This runs contrary to the impression that some atheists get when they hear religious fundamentalists saying things like “you will burn in Hell for denying God,” or “atheists do the devil’s work and will therefore be denied passage into Heaven.” Of course, not every believer is “in your face” like certain fundamentalists just as not all atheists are “in your face” like the so-called militant atheists.

The survey shows that 56% of the respondents believe that non-religious people can go to Heaven while 42% believe that the same "salvation" applies to atheists. Of course, atheists, as they do not believe in Heaven, are not really concerned about the possibility of getting into Heaven.

What is intriguing about these findings, though, from an atheistic perspective (or at least from my atheistic perspective) is that this trend may add fuel to the “moral zeitgeist” fire. It is the contention of many atheists that there is a shift in morality occurring across the globe.

So, what is “moral zeitgeist?” “Zeitgeist” by itself, as defined on webster.com, is “the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era.” Or, as others describe it, “the spirit of the age.” Conservapedia.com, which seems to have a certain bias built in as one might imagine based on its name, says:
 

The Moral Zeitgeist is a term used by atheists to describe the evolution of morality. Proponents of a moral Zeitgeist believe that morality evolved to help what they believe to be our ape-like ancestors survive in large groups as social animals. This theory suggests that moral acceptability is chosen by the masses. As people's view of what is morally right and wrong changes, the moral Zeitgeist is said to "shift." This position is rejected by Creationists and most Christians.
 

Richard Dawkins discusses the idea of a shifting moral zeitgeist in this video.

 
In his book, The God Delusion, to illustrate the shift, Dawkins points out that:

 

Slavery, which was taken for granted in the Bible and throughout most of history, was abolished in civilized countries in the nineteenth century. All civilized nations now accept what was widely denied up to the 1920s, that a woman's vote, in an election or on a jury, is the equal of a man's. In today's enlightened societies (a category that manifestly does not include, for example, Saudi Arabia), women are no longer regarded as property, as they clearly were in biblical times.

 

Another interesting bit of data that seems to support this notion of a shifting moral zeitgeist comes to us from a recent Gallup poll. Of those polled two-thirds reported that they believe that religion is losing its influence on American life. In the same poll, only 53% of the respondents believe that religion can answer all or most of today’s problems.

Other polls have shown similar sentiment. In a poll conducted in April, 2008 by ABC News/Washington Post, when Catholics were asked  "Do you think Pope Benedict should maintain the traditional policies of the Church, or should he change Church policies to reflect the attitudes and lifestyles of Catholics today," 45% said that policies should be changed.

There are many signs that point toward a shift in the moral zeitgeist; however, there are people, according to conservapedia.com, who believe that the notion “is simply Atheist avoidance of admitting the power of God.” As you might imagine, atheist would most likely whole-heartedly disagree with that contention regardless of how valid they think the notion of a shifting moral zeitgeist is.