Do you believe that there can be morals without God?

Question

I was just interested to see some responses to this. Please, no angry comments. Just sober, serious responses. Thanks!

Answer 1

Uhmm are you a stickler about the 'sober' part?

Two words: Golden Shower, oops, I mean Golden Rule.

One of the greatest tragedies in human history was the hijacking of morality by religion.
— Sir Arthur C. Clarke

There seems to be a terrible misunderstanding on the part of a great many people to the effect that when you cease to believe you may cease to behave.
— Louis Kronenberger,

I refuse to be labeled immoral merely because I am godless.
— Peter Walker

And what is good, Phaedrus,
And what is not good---
Need we ask anyone to tell us these things?
— Robert Pirsig,

The death of dogma is the birth of morality.
— Immanuel Kant, (1724-1804)

There is nothing divine about morality, it is a purely human affair.
— Albert Einstein

The foundation of morality should not be made dependent on myth nor tied to any authority lest doubt about the myth or about the legitimacy of the authority imperil the foundation of sound judgment and action.
— Albert Einstein

Because morality is a social necessity, the moment faith in god is banished, man's gaze turns from god to man and he becomes socially conscious. Religious belief prevented the growth of a sense of realism. But atheism at once makes man realistic and alive to the needs of morality.
— Gora, (1902-1975)

A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.
— Albert Einstein

So many gods, so many creeds, so many paths that wind and wind, while just the art of being kind is all the sad world needs
— Ella Wheeler Wilcox

I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it. — Albert Einstein

Morality is of the highest importance - but for us, not for God.
— Albert Einstein

To assert that Christianity communicated to man moral truths previously unknown, argues on the part of the asserter either gross ignorance or else willful fraud.... The system of morals expounded in the New Testament contains no maxims which had not been previously enunciated.
— Henry Thomas Buckle

The sentiments attributed to Christ are in the Old Testament. They were familiar in the Jewish schools and to all the Pharisees, long before the time of Christ, as they were familiar in all the civilizations of the earth -- Egyptian, Babylonian, and Persian, Greek, and Hindu.
— Joseph McCabe

Answer 2

Empathy is the real root of all morality. It's also a natural and necessary trait we've developed that allows humans to exist in a society.

I think the religious individual who is truly a good person and treats others as he'd like to be treated is acting on both instinct and upbringing. Humanity rewards morality, thus strengthening the trait. In some cases humanity acts in the form of religion.

But to think that a belief in "God" is required seems woefully flawed. Granted, plenty of god fearing cultures adhere to a sound moral code, but for every one that does another stands out as blatantly immoral.

From the days of the inquisitions, to manifest destiny, to modern Klansmen, many God fearing people have displayed decidedly immoral behavior and have done it in the very name of the God they answer to.

I'm a life long atheist. Without stroking myself I can honestly say I've much more moral fortitude than many theists I've known. How could this possibly be without empathy being naturally instilled?

Greed, dishonesty, bigotry, and blind hatred are unfortunate human traits that are always at odds with our natural capacity for empathy. Religion doesn't help us escape these short comings. It only gives us an excuse to accept them. After all, God forgives those who receive him.

Answer 3

YES! My sister's husband is from Germany . He is an atheist and he is so honest, so helpful ( he helps a lot of kids in 20 different counties (world vision) also he helps any people that are in hospitals besides being a dentist). As a dentist he may charge a lot from the rich people and he has two offices and the second one , he makes all the fillings or anything for free...for the poor people!
Again , he is an atheist!! He is very moral without God in everything you can think of!...weird...

Answer 4

Morals depends on two people GOD & Satan,because Morals is human action either good or bad,right or wrong.so,if Mr A follows instructions in the Holy Bible, and Mr B who steals and lie does not believe in the scripture that says thou shall not lie,steal. it means Mr B does not have a good moral but a bad one due to the fact that he chose the world and not GOD,while,Mr A chose God which prevents him from stealing and doing other wrong things even if the flesh wants to,the spirit in him will not let him.THERE CAN'T BE MORALS WITHOUT GOD.

Answer 5

Of course. One doesn't need to believe in a supreme being to believe that everyone should be treated kindly, fairly and honestly, to believe that stealing and murder are wrong, to believe that one should be faithful to one's spouse, etc. And plenty of people who do believe in a supreme being have killed and stolen and cheated -- and have even claimed to do so in God's name. Hitler believed in God. The 9/11 terrorists believed in God. The Spanish Inquisition was done for God. Unfortunately, throughout history, people have used God as a buttress to support all kinds of horrible things, and have had different views of what is "moral." (I'm using the word "moral" in this response to mean what I'm sure we all mean in this forum -- don't cheat, don't lie, don't steal, don't murder, don't hurt people, be truthful and kind, etc.)

I'm interested in the responses that say that if you are not religious, but yet do act morally, your morality is somehow diminished by the fact that you are not doing it for a higher purpose. I must disagree. If you are not religious, and you believe that no one is watching you and that you will never get an eternal reward for being moral, isn't it really that much more commendable that you are moral? If the only reason you're moral is that you're afraid you'll go to hell if you aren't, maybe you're not so much moral as you are just looking out for number one.

By the way, I do NOT mean to imply that religious people are immoral. I know plenty of people who are both religious and highly moral, and would be so even if they weren't thinking about heaven and hell. I'm just saying that I know plenty of non-religious people who are highly moral, too, and for no other reason than that they have strong beliefs with regard to what is right and wrong.

Answer 6

No, because then they become flexible, relative. They aren't backed up by a creator, or someone who is above, say Hitler. Or whoever is in power or in the majority at the time. "Without God, morality becomes just a matter of personal taste, similar to statements like, "Broccoli tastes good". Well, it tastes good to some people, but not to others. It is not a matter of objective truth. This means that a statement like: "killing innocent children is wrong" becomes simply an expression of taste, such as "I don't like the killing of innocent children.

I think God created morals and set them in our hearts, so atheists know right from wrong almost as well as those who know God do. Atheists can do right and love and work for the greater good. But they don't do so for an eternal purpose.

Answer 7

People can be moral without believing in God; the fact that there are many people in the world living moral lives who do not believe in God or subscribe to any religion shows this.

But it's hard to argue in favor of moral behavior without having recourse to belief in something beyond ourselves to undergird that behavior. It's hard -- not impossible, but hard -- to behave morally in difficult circumstances if we only have our own personal conviction about what's right to tell us what to do. And the morals that societies have in general come from their religions, even when those religions are no longer practiced.

Answer 8

Personally I do feel that there could be morals with God butthey won't be able to stand without God in other words you won't really keep your morals I mean there would be nothing really stopping you...as for me if it wasn't for The Bible which is the word of God and my granny then I thought that I would have any moral with God I ten to keep high morals...smile

Answer 9

I think there could be...but they'd be few and far between. Sometimes I wish some of my friends who were really spiritual had LESS morals...they don't seem to live in the real world all the time...but without god it'd be a jumbled mess, and there would be wars raging about whose morals were better and right...

Answer 10

Get your instructor to check the works of Bernard Longergan, a great Christian student and certainty seeker. VERY temporarily, he postulates that all of us have a faith interior that informs our ethical code. this would possibly not comprise a documents or perception in God. So, an atheist could be a thoroughly ethical individual. Warn your instructor - his writing is incredibly deep! And, puzzling going. yet, he's seen necessary in the study of ethical Philosophy, Ethics, and Theology.