...Can one be moral and not believe in God? The argument set forth is best understood by the first line given by Hamlet in Act 3, Scene 1 in this 1600 play, “Hamlet,” written by William Shakespeare (1600). “To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them?...” Believing in a spiritual entity or a supernatural supreme being can play a role in one’s moral beliefs, but it is not necessary. The argument will start with breaking down what it is to be moral with the definition of moral, which is “of or relating to principles of right and wrong in behavior,” (ethically speaking) “conforming to a standard of right behavior.” (Merriam-Webster, 2011) With that in mind now, one can be moral and not believe in GOD, because it is up to the person to choose to be moral, hence “To be, or not to be…” This argument will consist of a brief history in a few religions, church and state, moral education, ethics, and Plato's and Aristotle's take on living morally. Again, believing in God is not necessarily needed for one to be moral; all that is needed is good ethics, belief in oneself, and knowledge. The origin of religion, experts think, arose from the fear and wonder of natural events (i.e. storms, earthquakes, and the how babies were born). Experts believe that the explanations of death were the outcome of supernatural powers...
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...Can one be moral and not believe in God? Student’s Name Title of Course Instructor’s Name Date Can one be moral and not believe in God? The question as to whether one can have moral values and still believe there is no God is seemingly a puzzling query. In essence, it is proficient to commence with defining what moral values are. Morals are simply defined as the principles of wrong and right behaviors. An individual with high moral values knows the right things, and literally does and says the right things at the right time, with the right person, and utilizing the right materials. Believing in God or spiritual being is when an individual devotes their commitment to God or supernatural being in faith, expressions, worship, and conscientiousness. When one believes in God or a spiritual being, such could potentially play a great role on their moral behaviors. On the other hand, many people suppose that if one does not believe in a spiritual being or God, it is very hard for them to have moral values. However, there are also other people that suppose that having moral values do not necessarily require one to believe in God or spiritual beings[1]. What’s more, there also other people that suppose that believing in God or spiritual beings is not necessarily required for one to have moral values, but all they require is to belief in oneself, practice good ethics, as well as the knowledge of knowing and distinguishing the...
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...Religion: Can one be Moral and not believe in God Tomeka Lynch PHI208 Jeffrey Porter 7/7/13 Abstract “A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hopes of reward after death ” (Albert Einstein) Religion is about beliefs and individual views that relate to what they believe is ethical/unethical, none of those state you are less moral if you are not religious, however I can understand how confusing this could be based on the teachings of the bible and some of the plagues and deaths that was brought about by Jesus/God. I personally like the quote from Einstein. From the time that man could think, the question has been asked “where do we come from”, “how did we get here”, and “is there a God”? The question of the existence of God has been a long time debate between believers and non-believers. There are only two logical answers to the question of Gods’ existence, either God does exist or God does not exist. This paper will explore the arguments for and against the existence of God as well as explain some of the arguments that are used to come to these conclusions. Theodicy arose from the attempts to answer the question of the existence of God. St. Anselm formed the first ontological argument and believed that -Ontological arguments are arguments...
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...Moral Arguments for the Existence of God Name Institution Date Introduction Moral arguments around the existence of God constitute a diverse group of arguments that reason from a certain angle of moral life or morality to God’s existence, with the general understanding of God as a morally good creator. It is important to note that moral arguments are interesting considering the fact that one has to give attention to all the philosophical issues that are handled under Metaethics in order to effectively evaluate the soundness of such arguments. On the other hand, they are important considering their dominance in famous apologetic arguments in support of religious belief. The connection that apparently exists between religion and morality tends to uphold the claim that there is need for a religious foundation that can define moral truths, or that such truths can be best elaborated by the existence of God, or some actions or qualities of God. This essay focuses on the various types of moral arguments, with the intention of drawing on the distinction between practical and theoretical or pragmatic moral arguments. As such, this paper asserts that from the moral perspective, mortal obligations constitute of rules that are imposed by a supreme being that can only be explained by a Godly figure. Moral Arguments for the Existence of God There are various moral arguments that have been established in support of the existence of God, some of which will be discussed in this section...
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...existence of God has been a controversial topic discussed by philosophers over many centuries. One of the arguments for God’s existence comes from the belief that the type of God that would exist is an all just and all-knowing supernatural being that has laid down objective moral laws for humans to follow. This is called the moral argument. In this paper I argue that the moral arguments does not stand against objections when trying to prove God’s existence. This paper has five parts beginning with a thorough outline and explanation of the moral argument (1). Next I will present four objections and the theists reply to them. First is that morality doesn’t depend on God’s existence only the belief in God (2). Second, that one cannot be truly...
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...PHI 208 Ethics and Moral Reasoning Instructor: Christopher Foster 2/10/2014 There are a couple philosophers that believe in different situations when I comes to the existence and the belief of God. The essay will explain the philosophers view points on the religion of God. There are a few arguments of which existence is the strongest. It will explain many aspects on science and religion, atheism, moral and human freedom on God’s existence. Believing in God and believing in God’s existence can have many aspects with different views from philosophers, the arguments will explain which philosopher is more compelling than the other. When it comes to the existence of God, some philosophers believe that it is necessary to have proof and some believe that proof is not necessary if we have faith. One philosopher named, Thomas Aquinas believed that God is from faith and first cause is the proof of God. Let’s take a look at what Thomas had to say, “that the existence of God is not demonstrable: that God's existence is an article of faith, and that articles of faith are not demonstrable, because the office of demonstration is to prove, but faith pertains (only) to things that are not to be proven, as is evident from the Epistle to the Hebrews, 11.” (Paul Halsall, 1988.) Therefore, I don’t believe that we need proof of God’s existence. I agree with Thomas that God is faith. No, proving God’s existence is not necessary because God is faith, we have to believe in God to have the faith...
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...actions are commanded by God. Religious people think that God gives commandments and watches to see a person’s true character. This is not true, God believes one must be free in order to show one’s true moral character, so He does not make the commandments. The main creation story starts with the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were created for happiness and paradise. Religious people believe that one day when we die there is a Judgment Day, which, based on your moral character, will decide whether you go to Heaven or Hell. If one does what God wants, morality, one will be rewarded and go to Heaven. If one does not do what God wants, one will be punished and go to Hell. A person has to be free in order to show one’s true moral character, this is the “liberty” part, so God does not show anyone that He is really there. He does not force people to be good, or scare people into being good because then it would not show true character, and they would not be considered liberated. A big miracle is something that everyone sees, and therefore, it must be true. However, even if God did appear in the sky and say that He is God, we cannot be sure it is really Him. The image in the sky could be the Devil disguised as God, because the Devil is a deceiver and wants people to listen to him. The Bible is written by the Devil, he is pretending to be God because it takes away your freedom. When Moses was talking to the burning bush, the burning bush was the Devil pretending to be God. The image could be...
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...God and the Problem of Evil Liberty University Bob Cox The debate of whether God exists has been going on for centuries. Atheists and theists have opposing views on how the universe as we know it came in to being. According to atheism, evolution can explain all we see in the universe. The process of evolution which began with the big bang started the universe and all that is within it. Theists see the world full of design and order and believe it came about through an intelligent creator. Atheists do not believe in God because they have not seen clear proof that he exists (McCloskey, 1968). In his article “On Being an Atheist”, H. J. Mccloskey explains why he believes that God does not exist. The theist believes that an intelligent creator is the best explanation for all that we experience in the universe. Personal experience leads many to begin to think about God. Some wonder about the purpose of their life; while others might be struggling reasons for pain and suffering. It helps to believe that our pain and suffering are for some ultimate purpose and that eventually some good can come from it. Faith in God can be arrived at intelligently through reason. We may not be able to prove that God exists but there is convincing evidence to believe he does. We shouldn’t be afraid to ask questions about what we believe and why we believe it. Our answers will help to strengthen our own faith and give others something to think about. If something is worth believing, it is worth...
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...existence of God. Some philosophers believe that due to the existence of evil and suffering in our world, it poses a serious challenge to the belief in the existence of a perfect God. In this paper however I am not concerned with the question whether God exists or not but I rather will be discussing the Western concepts of God as well as the Eastern one, followed by the dual existence of a higher being and evil. I will also emphasize on Immanuel Kant's perspectives on religion and radical evil as his views intrigued me the most among all the other philosophers, mentioning my own belief on religion and God. Western thought about God has fallen within some broad form of theism. Theism is the view that states there is a God, which is the creator and one who sustains the universe and is unlimited with regard to knowledge (omniscience), power (omnipotence), extension (omnipresence), and moral perfection. Western philosophy has interfaced most widely with Christianity, Judaism and Islam has also had some influence. The orthodox forms of all these three religions have embraced theism, though each religion has also yielded a wide array of other views. The western concept of God reveals that God created the Heavens and the Earth (which is mainly known as the cosmos) explained by the two theories. The first one was that God created the cosmos by his word, out of nothing, The second that the cosmos got created by the pre-existent matter, which was water, interpreted by the sentence : God was...
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...Hamartiology: The Problem of Evil (Theodicy) The problem with evil is that it is hard to believe that in a world created by a God that is supposed to be an all loving all power full God then why would he allow evil to be in the world. Why would he allow for killings and cancer and natural disasters? Evil is a byproduct of free will, because we are free to choose between doing the right thing, that equates to good, and doing the wrong thing, equating to evil. If God didn't give us our own free will to choose right and wrong we would be like robots being controlled and told what to do. God then did give a gift that was good we as humans misused it and therefore have to suffer the consciences of the evil in this world. Now there are two types of evil in this world moral and natural. These two evils are distinct but not separate.[1] Natural sin the result of moral sin. For example, we are told to obey our mother and father and not pay in the road, but if we disobey and play in the road we are committing moral sin. Now by playing in the road you get hit by a car and become paralyzed that is natural evil. The reason you are paralyzed is because of your moral sin of disobeying. There are a couple of ways you can look at why there is evil in the world, one being the theodicy of Gottfried Leibniz. Leibniz believes that God is obligated to create the best.[2] I believe this to be a true statement for God did create the best when he created humans in his image which is perfect and created...
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...Introduction God is the source of much doubt and controversy, of peace and of war. At this point in our human existence what was once certain and unquestionable has become the most questioned topic. The faithful, believing people have become unsure. I guess the question is either God exists or He doesn't. There really is no middle territory, and any attempt to remain neutral in relation to God's existence is automatically putting you in the category of unbelief. The age old question is far from being an irrelevant one, because if God does exist, then nothing else really matters; if He does not exist, then what does really matter at all. Until now I've never been put in a position where my faith was questioned. I found this title somewhere, I cannot remember where I saw it, but it describes me the best it can; as a recovering Catholic, I really am in no man’s land. Do I believe or not believe, that is the stand I have to take in this paper one way or another, yes or no, black or white. At that point this became more than a final paper. Can I, comfortably write a paper stating that God does not exist? After thorough personal inflection, I had my answer, and with much of my upbringing weighing down on me. I will try making my case for the existence of God. ("God." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2009. Merriam-Webster Online. 29 April 2009) What better place to start, than Simon Blackburn On Blackburn's projectivist view; after he sketched the outlines of his projectivist...
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...existence of god has been a question that has plagued mankind since it began to think logically. Many philosophers argue that there may or may not be a god, or that there may even be different types of gods. It is difficult to say whether or not god can exist because there is a lack of knowledge or limited knowledge regarding the issue. Mankind has only been around for so long and only has little pieces of history left to study. So who knows what we could be possibly be missing in this quest to find the ultimate answer. Yet our way of thinking has evolved enough to allow us to grasp more complex ideas to make up for lost history. And maybe just maybe, be able to come to the conclusion of whether or not god can or cannot exist. The Big Bang generally refers to the idea that the universe has expanded from a hot and dense condition at some time in the past, and continues to expand to this day. My question is what put it there? Time could have not decided to one day say, “I think I’m going to create life in a thing called a universe.” And magically particles come out of nowhere, more and more build up until it’s screaming hot, and then BANG! Time begins and so does everything as we know it today. Something had to place it there. Something had to have planned out the whole process involving the beginning of time. Everything is too complex and precise to not have been created by an intelligent being. I do believe in “God” but not the god referred to in the bible. I believe there is a...
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...existence of god has been a question that has plagued mankind since it began to think logically. Many philosophers argue that there may or may not be a god, or that there may even be different types of gods. It is difficult to say whether or not god can exist because there is a lack of knowledge or limited knowledge regarding the issue. Mankind has only been around for so long and only has little pieces of history left to study. So who knows what we could be possibly be missing in this quest to find the ultimate answer. Yet our way of thinking has evolved enough to allow us to grasp more complex ideas to make up for lost history. And maybe just maybe, be able to come to the conclusion of whether or not god can or cannot exist. The Big Bang generally refers to the idea that the universe has expanded from a hot and dense condition at some time in the past, and continues to expand to this day. My question is what put it there? Time could have not decided to one day say, “I think I’m going to create life in a thing called a universe.” And magically particles come out of nowhere, more and more build up until it’s screaming hot, and then BANG! Time begins and so does everything as we know it today. Something had to place it there. Something had to have planned out the whole process involving the beginning of time. Everything is too complex and precise to not have been created by an intelligent being. I do believe in “God” but not the god referred to in the bible. I believe there is...
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...been corrupted by evil, and a God is going to restore the world itself to its nature. Apparently, the restoration is indeed obvious. It is shown through the everlasting teachings of kindness, harmony, and peace through generations of men. Men are smart, but they are selfish and ignorant, making them unable to invent such moral teachings. Hence, those teachings, or Law, come from another source—God—which is far from selfishness. Indeed, Christianity is sensible, for there are evidences that God is making changes in humanity. If there is a God, then who God is by the way? Those who believe in God have always questioned the Supreme Being in whom they believed day by day. Eventually, they start to make the answers...
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...going to examine is for the statement, which is Plato’s Euthyphro. Plato stated that “is something good because God says its good or does God say it is good because it is good”. This means that do we do good things because God says is good or do we do good things so than God says that it is good. Another argument I am going to examine, is for the statement, and it is an argument based on a group of people called Anti-Theists. They don’t believe in God, so they agree with the statement. However, Anti-Theists like Richard Dawkins say that anyone who believes in religion or in a god is an extremist and it clouds and distorts your view on morality. The next argument that I am going to examine is what some people in the world think, but it is based around Cultural Relativists, who say that if morality was decided for by God then he could say one day to murder somebody and it would be fine. This would then agree with the statement above. An argument I’m going to examine is The Devine Command Theory. This argument goes against the statement as it says that you can only have morals if you believe in God because you get morals from revelations, scriptures or religious experience. This means that to have morals God has to exist. Another argument that I’m going to examine is Scriptural Ethics, which goes against the statement. This means that people should get their morals from Holy Scriptures and text like The Bible and The Qur’an...
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