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THE QUESTION
Good without God?
Is there good without God? Can people be good without God? How can people be good, in the moral and ethical sense, without being grounded in some sort of belief in a being which is greater than they are? Where do concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, come from if not from religion? From where do you get your sense of good and evil, right and wrong?
Posted by
David Waters on October 28, 2009 12:25 AM
FROM THE PANEL
Is there good without God?
Some of the most ethical people I know are atheists and agnostics. One can certainly be moral without believing in God, but this is because men can surely breath without being aware of the existence of oxygen. God is the cause of moral goodness, but nobody has to recognize the cause in order to get the benefit.
Posted by John Mark Reynolds, on October 30, 2009 3:03 PM
'Being' good and 'doing' good
There is a difference between "being" good and "doing" good. Atheists do some wonderfully noble things; but they do so in spite of themselves and because of the common grace of God.
Posted by Charles "Chuck" Colson, on October 30, 2009 11:14 AM
God fuels the goodness of us all -- even unbelievers
The Bible says that God is good. Based on these unqualified assertions, we'd have to conclude that there is no good apart from God. So, it reasonably follows, people cannot be good without Him.
Posted by Jim Daly, on October 30, 2009 9:32 AM
Morality: a central component of humanity
Divine guidance reminds us to listen to our heart, and to think about how we would want to be treated and to then treat others that way, to use our intellect for good, rather than for selfish ends. It also gives direction where reason and emotion may conflict, or where reason may provide competing answers to the question "Which is the best path?" or "Which is the good path?"
Posted by Pamela K. Taylor, on October 30, 2009 1:11 AM
Goodness is no substitute for holiness
Implicit in our faith is also this: People who think they are good without God are under at least one, perhaps two, illusions. And people who don't claim to be good, but who claim that some are good who don't believe in God, add one more illusion.
Posted by Willis E. Elliott, on October 30, 2009 12:38 AM
Morality: no gods required
It is the myth that religious belief is somehow necessary for morality that is providing the life support for religion in many Western societies, long after we should have been reaching for the embalming fluid.
Posted by Paula Kirby, on October 29, 2009 4:35 PM
God's goodness, and absence
But faith cannot compel good behavior. In fact, believers have made a science out of sidestepping the supposed "will of God" to do what they want, and then have said that their behavior was justified and condoned by God.
Posted by Susan K. Smith, on October 29, 2009 4:31 PM
Goodness itself is divine
Whenever individuals are inspired to promote peace, practice compassion, and do good, I would call that inspiration divine, irrespective of whether they acknowledge that as the source or not. For those in whose lives goodness and ethics are integral, there is no need for them to be forced into following a human created belief system or deity. That inner light is already guiding their lives in such moments.
Posted by Ramdas Lamb, on October 29, 2009 6:16 AM
Goodness and the Goddess
How do I know what is good? Empathy tells me. That which furthers life, health, beauty, biodiversity, freedom, compassion, love, fairness and justice is good. If I act with integrity in the service of what I love, if I take responsibility for my actions and the well-being of others, I will do good.
Posted by Starhawk, on October 28, 2009 8:35 PM
Karma, Newton, good and evil
Essentially there can be no unity on what is "good" and what is "evil" as long as the definition is predicated completely on a literal, "because the Bible (or Koran or Torah or Vedas) says so."
Posted by Aseem Shukla, on October 28, 2009 12:41 PM
Goodness happens
Abstract questions about whether God is necessary for there to be morality, for there to be a sense of right and wrong, simply will not stand in the face of events such as the genocide in Rwanda. Rather, the answers we seek about how goodness happens are found in the simple practices of decency, of goodness, that some people perform and by their performance teach others.
Posted by Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, on October 27, 2009 8:35 PM
God and the moral muddle
Many of the moral sentiments expressed in the Bible strike us, at face value, as primitive and shocking. In reading these sources so that they don't violate our evolved sense of morality, believers themselves demonstrate that this evolved sense has a purely human, not supernatural, basis.
Posted by Rebecca Goldstein, on October 27, 2009 4:48 PM
God, an addiction
I think it's meaningless to ask whether people can be good without God. As an atheist, I believe we are all without any gods. The question is really about whether people can be good without a belief in God. And by just about any measure, the answer has to be yes.
Posted by Herb Silverman, on October 27, 2009 3:15 PM
No truly good acts?
I disagree with Kant who said there is no true altruism. I think that we are actually made to be good.
Posted by Mark Tauber, on October 27, 2009 2:48 PM
Time to move beyond Faith vs. Reason
We need urgently to talk about these things: ethics, progress, education, science, democracy, tolerance, and justice--and to understand the reasons why religion can (but does not always) hamper their flourishing. This new conversation won't be sexy, but let's face it: neither is two white men in a pub sparring over God.
Posted by Lisa Miller, on October 27, 2009 12:35 PM
God sets the standard for goodness
God's standard of goodness is vertical and unapproachable in our own strength. He is "high and lifted up" as Isaiah saw Him. By His standard, all of us fall far short. "There is no one who is righteous, no not one." (Paul the Apostle). And similarly, our righteousness before God is like filthy rags.
Posted by Cal Thomas, on October 27, 2009 12:30 PM
Goodness must be grounded in faith in something greater
Can people be good, in the moral and ethical sense, without being grounded in some kind of faith in some kind of being or animating belief which is greater than they are? No.
Posted by Brad Hirschfield, on October 27, 2009 7:47 AM
Just as easy (and hard) to be good (and bad) without God
Basic religious and legal strictures are merely a codification of what humans already know, through their own intellect and experience, is necessary to maintain a decent society for all.
Posted by Susan Jacoby, on October 26, 2009 7:19 AM
FEATURED COMMENTS
ccnl1: Your attempt to prove the existence of god and that this god exudes goodness fails miserably when you consider some babies are born with sev...
groundon: The question is a mistake. This question is from religious propaganda.
A question that I would accept is:
- "Does Belief make you be good ...
kert1: There are actually several really good questions in here.
First, can good exist without God? The bigger question is can anything exist wit...
