Q&A: Morality Without God
Morality Without God
Question
Good evening,
I am familiar with your well-known claim that commitment to morality also compels belief in God. But from all the arguments I’ve heard on the various platforms, I haven’t clearly understood the following two things:
- In your view, is God also necessary for the existence of ethical facts themselves? That is, did He in some sense create the “good” and the “bad” — is He the one who determines what is good and what is bad? Or do good and evil exist independently, and in your view God is only needed in order for us to be obligated by them?
- According to either possibility — in your view, if God says to do something immoral, is there then no longer any obligation to obey the rules of morality? In other words, is God Himself not subject to morality?
Answer
The basic argument is explained in column 456. Your first question is discussed in column 457.
As for question 2, I was asked that there, and if I remember correctly I answered: there is an obligation to obey Him, and perhaps I would be in conflict over whether to obey, since there is also an obligation not to act in an immoral way. But this is a hypothetical question, because in a case where God is not good, it is not clear that He is God at all (it is like asking me about a world in which 2+4=11). Moreover, in such a situation it is not clear whether valid morality would even be defined at all.
On this point there is Abraham our forefather’s trial, for he was explicitly commanded to do an extremely grave act — to murder his son. So perforce, nothing stands in opposition to a divine command.