Raphael Leandro L.

Sison
BS IE 4
Can We Be Good Without God?
Morality is the goodness or badness of an action. Ethics on the other hand is the
theoretical basis by which the morality of an action is judged. The study of ethics has been
around since the time of the ancient Greeks. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were key figures in
its development. And their tradition has influenced numerous philosophers in the history of
human thought. Some embraced their ideas with utmost admiration and some criticized them as
unreasonable and erroneous. Hume, Kant, Mill, Nietzsche, and other modern and contemporary
philosophers have varying views on ethics. One deems an ethical theory as wrong while
another deems it as otherwise. And that is a source of problem and confusion.
Ethics, I should say, is a dilemma. The history of ethics proves so because of its
multitude of theories. And the reason for this moral subjectivism is the absence of a moral law
giver, a transcendent beingGod. Taking God out of the picture, morality becomes an illusion.
Man may construct an ethical system that works but that does not necessarily reflect reality.
This is because the only ethical system that ultimately works for mankind is an absolute moral
law given by God.
I will reinforce this point by refuting utilitarianism. Utilitarianism proposes that an act is
moral or immoral based on the benefit of the greater good. If an act benefits more men than it
harms, then it is immoral. However, we do not wipe out one-third of mans population in an
attempt to prevent potential mayhem that can be generated human acts; mayhem that may
potentially kill more than half of mans population or worse, destroy mankind. And the reason
why it ought not to be done is because it is immoral based on the act itself. Human actions are
innately good or bad. And the innateness or intrinsic-ness of an act is only possible when it is
absolutely been made as so by God.
Can we be good without God? My personal take here is neither. Man can neither be
good nor bad without God. Without God there is no basis for morality. An act cannot be judged
as good or evil without an absolute moral law. Man may argue that ethical systems can be
developed in a secular world but the problem with that argument is that each individual or
culture may view the morality of acts differently. The Mayans look at suicide as sacred and
noble. Some cultures look at cannibalism as perfectly justifiable. Hitler tried to eliminate the
Jews because it is beneficial for the Aryan race. I believe they have their reasons and
justifications and they are, at some extent, valid. And without God, these acts have no moral
basis. An atheistic world is a meaningless world filled with assumptions that can be embraced or
dismissed depending on an individuals prerogative.