“I think good people are good people, with or without a ‘God’ to pin it on.”A friend wrote that statement to me. Is she right? Is God really a necessary underpinning for our beliefs, if we want to call something good or bad?
People who chose to behave morally without acknowledging God are still behaving in a praiseworthy manner. But their actions lack an underlying justification. One day, their effects will evaporate into the cold cosmos. So what’s the purpose? If we are “all there is” then there’s no compelling reason to behave "morally" ..other than out of self-interest.. so we might enjoy the warm fuzzy feelings it produces or avoid society’s punishment.
If you want to be able to point to the child abuser and say, “This is wrong!” and not just lobby for others to accept your own preferences, then you need to hang your hat on something (or someone) bigger than any single person or culture.
Stephen Goforth
