The Moral Argument for God

[Mudhammam]

What is the relationship between objective moral values and God, and why does the existence of one require the other?

That is the million-dollar question, isn't it? I posted this earlier, but the thread has grown, so you may have missed it:


Here's an analogy: the measure of a portrait painted by an artist is how closely the completed work resembles the person portrayed. If it is does capture the appearance well, we say that the portrait is a "good" likeness. Otherwise, we question the skill of the artist (impressionists and Picasso notwithstanding). But the measure of the portrait is the actual person being painted. Now, imagine a room full of art students all painting the same model who is posed in the center of the studio. The students may capture the model's features with varying degrees of accuracy and skill, and we would judge that painting to be the best which most closely resembles the model in real life.

Similarly, it seems to me that when we measure whether an act is good or evil, we do so against an absolute standard of right and wrong that does not depend upon cultural differences or personal preferences. And we make our judgments regarding good and evil, right and wrong, against an absolute standard.

I'm oversimplifying when I say that which is the highest good is what theists call "God". (And Plato "the Good"?)

If God does not exist, then what is the basis or reference point for objective moral values and duties? Or do they even exist?

Well, I would argue that the objective standard is really no different in matters of good and evil than it is in other branches of sentient well-being. For example, the end of medicine is health. And the end of human ethics is a well-ordered, fulfilling, happy life, and insofar as there are means to achieve this state of being we recognize certain behaviors, with happiness an objective in mind, to be intrinsically valuable, good in-themselves. Like Aristotle, I don't see wherein God is necessary or helpful in establishing ethical norms, and anyway then we will still have Euthyphro's dilemma