Many theists believe it is clear-cut. Humans can only have opinions about morality, and no oneās opinion is any more valid than anyone elseās. This leads them to the conclusion that an objective source of morality must stand apart from, and above, humans. That source, they say, is God. Since atheists, reject God, atheists can have no basis for morality.
This is really two separate arguments: (1) that God is the source of objective morality and humans can learn morality from God and (2) that humans on their own have no way to know what is moral and what is not.
Can atheists be moral? - Atheist Alliance International
Atheists not only can be, but often are moral. That's because God's law is "written on their hearts". (Romans 2:15). Most people of common sense can see this is true. Most people live by common precepts that have held for all people, of all time, through all cultures. Like, don't take what is not yours. Don't torture for fun. Etc.
Agree.....on an individual basis....but doesn't seem to work for whole societies.
Now for the idea that the rational, the common sense method is better than religious morality. Can a human being be good without reference to God? As the saying goes, āGoing to church doesnāt make you a good Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.ā Sureā¦.there could be good pagansā¦.or bad religious folks. While it is true that one can be moral and good and not religious, the idea does not work for all or even most.
Why? Because there is no force behind reason. Take slavery as an example. There is no rational way to convince the slaveholder that he shouldnāt own and sell his fellow man: it makes a great profit, makes his life easier. He can even claim that his slaves live longer and better than many free men.
āHaving been created as a free society, the concepts required to support slavery required ideological justifications that other slave societies had not found necessary. The most essential justification was the assertion that the enslaved were so different that the principles and ideals of the country didnāt apply to them. Imagine the contortions that had to go into the idea that the slaves lacked the feelings that would cause them suffering from degradation, hard work, or the destruction of family ties.ā Thomas Sowell, āEthnic America,ā chapter eight.
Take as an example, a sadist who gets satisfaction from murdering children. If there is no God who declares that such an act is wrong, then my arguing such is simply my opinion versus that of the murderer. Without God, good and evil are a matter of taste.
We have seen it in the French Revolution, where an attempt to replace religion and morality with science and reason resulted in 600,000 slaughtered.
Science and reason can tell us what we can do, not what we should do.
"Why? Because there is no force behind reason. Take slavery as an example. There is no rational way to convince the slaveholder that he shouldnāt own and sell his fellow man: it makes a great profit, makes his life easier. He can even claim that his slaves live longer and better than many free men."
In the bible god promotes slavery in a number of passages.
and also the killing of gays.
Roy Moores' source for his desire to have homosexuality made illegal.
So if the christian bible (and i have no doubt that the only religion/bible that you approve of is the christian one)
is used as a source of morals or laws gays and atheists would be slaughtered and blacks would still be slaves.
Would this be an example for you of "Making America Great"?
"In the bible god promotes slavery in a number of passages."
I love it when Leftists suddenly try to quote the Bible.
1. " Africans played a direct role in the slave trade, selling their captives or prisoners of war to European buyers.[19] The prisoners and captives who were sold were usually from neighbouring or enemy ethnic groups. These captive slaves were considered "other", not part of the people of the ethnic group or "tribe"; African kings held no particular loyalty to them. Sometimes criminals would be sold so that they could no longer commit crimes in that area. Most other slaves were obtained from kidnappings, or through raids that occurred at gunpoint through joint ventures with the Europeans." Atlantic slave trade - Wikipedia
2. Not only is the above not endorsed by the Bibleā¦..but it is expressly forbidden.
The aspects that identify what we call 'slavery' today, the colloquial meaning, are the following:
a. permanence of bondage
b. treatment as material assets
c. control of the life and death of the slave: the slave could be beaten to death
d. an escaped slave had to be returned to his masterā¦.as decreed in the Dred Scott Democrat Supreme Court decision.
3. None of the above are allowed to the 'slave owner' by the Bible.
"The Bible uses the Hebrew term eved and Greek doulos to refer to slaves. Eved has a much wider meaning than the English term slave, and in many circumstances it is more accurately translated into English as servant or hired worker."
Christian views on slavery - Wikipedia
e,g, "God spoke face-to-face with Moses but Joshua will be instructed by Eleazar; Moses was the servant of God but Joshua is Mosesās minister (Joshua 1.1)." https://uwaterloo.ca/grebel/sites/ca.grebel/files/uploads/files/CGR-22-1-W2004-1_1.pdf
"If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything."
Exodus 21:2
Soā¦.if the Bible is your excuse for the imposition of slaveryā¦.the argument fails at the briefest perusal of the text.