Is there really good and evil in everyone?

Yikes. Tough question. Might as well ask for the meaning of life... but here goes.

From my frame of reference there is most assuredly both profound good and supreme evil in every person. While I am an atheist, I nonetheless have a highly developed ethical sense.

I tend to see evil as subjective. What we consider evil is defined largely by the social mores of the society in which we live. People from different cultural backgrounds will have different ideas of good and evil.

To take a rather extreme example, let's discuss cannibalism. I doubt many would argue that cannibalism is anything but profoundly evil. Jeffrey Dahmer comes to mind. However; there are indigenous tribes where ritualized cannibalism (the ceremonial ingestion of small pieces of dried flesh) is part of the standard funerary rights. The entire community comes together to remember the departed by eating them. To us this might seem horrifying, but to them it is a great honor.

Also remember that many christian dogmas include the ritualized cannibalism of 'The Host' in which the faithful symbolically eat the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. For branches of the church which espouse 'transubstantiation" this is believed to be the actual body of Christ.

My point is simply that times change, and society and morals change with them. There was a time when eating meat on a Friday was a hell-worthy trespass, and a man with hair longer than his ears could be martyred. Today the 'evils' that dominate public attention tend to be psycho-sexual and reproductive in nature. (homosexuality, abortion, etc.)

I wonder what will be evil tomorrow?

Whether you see things through a lens of religion or are atheist do you believe that there is good and evil in everyone?

I was raised in the Christian faith and my whole universe is defined by the concept of good and evil. I know that even non-religious people acknowledge morality but lately I find myself wondering whether good and evil are really absolutes.

For many Christians evil is defined as anything that displeases God. For many non-religious people evil is defined as behavior which is harmful to mankind. Both definitions are human-centric by default, but human beings aren’t the only creatures that exist in the universe. Is God and man the only beings allowed to define what is good and evil? If so then how can the definitions truly be accurate?

Let’s discuss!