YOU CAN’T BE GOOD WITHOUT GOD by Andrew Menkis for Core Christianity
When I was in college I used to enjoy talking with and debating the members of the Freethought Club on campus. The Freedom from Religion Foundation defines a freethinker as “a person who forms opinions about religion on the basis of reason, independently of tradition, authority, or established belief. Freethinkers include atheists, agnostics, and rationalists.” Every Tuesday afternoon they set up a table outside of the student union and talked to anyone who was interested in their group or their views.
One day I noticed that the Freethinkers had printed out posters with a new slogan, “You can be good without God.” On one level I understood and could even affirm what the slogan said. Of course, not all atheists are liars, thieves, and murderers. To the contrary, many are quite pleasant people. However, on a deeper level, the slogan undermines itself. So I went up to the table and began to discuss the claim with one of the Freethinkers. I presented an argument that it is impossible to be good without God.
1. If good and evil exist then we must affirm an absolute moral standard.
I began by asking the Freethinker: Is there anything that is wrong in every place and at every time? After some discussion, he agreed that yes, there are certain things that are always wrong. Things such as murder, genocide, and child abuse are never morally good. Truth and morality cannot be relative to individual times, places, or people unless you are willing to admit that there is nothing inherently wrong with many abhorrent and vile acts. Therefore, for right and wrong or good and bad to exist as meaningful categories, they must rest on a firm foundation. In other words, that foundation must be absolute, not relative.
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The question then becomes: What is the basis for one action being good and another evil? If some things are always bad, why is that the case? Just because you claim that people should be truthful, selfless, and kind, does not give a reason why that ought to be the case.
