MATERIALISM
AND DETERMINISM
The problems
for atheism, when it comes to morality, go even further, for if
there is no God, what are human beings other than just accidental
arrangements of atoms? If a human being is purely a physical organism
with no immaterial aspects to his being like a soul or mind, then
he is not qualitatively different from other animal species. Therefore,
to regard human morality as objective would be to fall into the
trap of speciesism. Given materialism, there is no reason to think
human beings are objectively more valuable than rats, mosquitoes,
or any other life forms.x
But also, with no mind or soul distinct from the brain, everything
a human thinks or does is determined (not just influenced, but
determined) by one's genetic make-up and the input of the senses.
There is no personal agent who freely chooses. Everything one
does is nothing but a result of chemical reactions. We are like
a marionette whose actions are beyond its control. What moral
value does a marionette or its movements have?xi And clearly,
such a being would not be morally responsible for any of its actions.
It is critical to note what I am not saying. I am not saying that
an atheist cannot be moral, only that if there is no God there
are no objective, obligatory moral principles, which is contrary
to what we have already established. The question is not, "Can
we formulate a system of ethics without reference to God?"
If the atheist assumes that human beings have objective value,
there is no reason to think that he cannot work out a system of
ethics, and possibly one with which the theist would largely agree.
Nor is the question, "Can we recognize the existence of objective
moral principles without reference to God?" We don't need
to believe in God to recognize, for example, that we should love
our children. It is not the absence of belief in God, but the
absence of God that is the problem for objective morality.
The outspoken atheist, Paul Kurtz, focuses the issue clearly when
he writes,
"The central question about moral and ethical principles
concerns their ontological foundation" [that is to say, their
foundation in reality]. "If they are neither derived from
God nor anchored in some transcendent ground, are they purely
ephemeral?"xii
CONTINUE:
Ethics Without God
