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Can You Be Good Without God?

Source: NY Times.

A writer for a Times blog about philosophy argues that being an atheist does not mean “anything goes” — in fact, quite the opposite. What do you think? Can morality be independent of God? Can people who don’t believe in God still be as “good” as those who do? What governs your own decisions about whether and how to act ethically?

 

In “Good Minus God,” Louise M. Antony writes:

I gather that many people believe that atheism implies nihilism — that rejecting God means rejecting morality. A person who denies God, they reason, must be, if not actively evil, at least indifferent to considerations of right and wrong…

… It is only if morality is independent of God that we can make moral sense out of religious worship. It is only if morality is independent of God that any person can have a moral basis for adhering to God’s commands. Let me explain why. First let’s take a cold hard look at the consequences of pinning morality to the existence of God. Consider the following moral judgments — judgments that seem to me to be obviously true:

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Categories: Americas, Atheism, Religion

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  1. Foundation of our morality: Islamic and Judeo-Christian tradition
    If we examine our morality in its extreme situations we may realize that clearly there are religious implications and our morality came from God and perhaps cannot fully exist without God.

    Our morality is rooted in the prophets of God who revealed to us the absolute standards of our Creator against murder and incest for example.

    If we carefully examine the teachings of the Bible and the Holy Quran on the subject of murder and incest we will find Quranic tradition a more evolved and preserved text. The Holy Quran details the blood relationships that believers are forbade to marry. It says:

    “Forbidden to you are your mothers, and your daughters, and your sisters, and your fathers’ sisters, and your mothers’ sisters, and brother’s daughters, and sister’s daughters, and your foster-mothers that have given you suck, and your foster-sisters, and the mothers of your wives, and your stepdaughters, who are your wards by your wives unto whom you have gone in — but if you have not gone in unto them, there shall be no sin upon you — and the wives of your sons that are from your loins; and it is forbidden to you to have two sisters together in marriage, except what has already passed; surely, Allah is Most Forgiving, Merciful.” (Al Quran 4:24)

    About murder the Quran links itself to the Jewish tradition and states:

    ” … On account of this, We prescribed for the children of Israel that whosoever killed a person — unless it be for killing a person or for creating disorder in the land — it shall be as if he had killed all mankind; and whoso gave life to one, it shall be as if he had given life to all mankind. And Our Messengers came to them with clear Signs, yet even after that, many of them commit excesses in the land.” (Al Quran 5:33)

    Read further and watch a few debates on the theme:
    http://www.themuslimtimes.org/2011/12/religion/foundation-of-our-morality-islamic-and-judeo-christian-tradition

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