Being good without god

[Angrboda]

I think the main point theists are trying to make is that, yes, you don't seem to need a belief in God in order to be good, but why? Saying that our biology makes it so tends to rob the phenomenon of what, for lack of a better term, might be called its "moral dimension." If moral decisions are simply an expression of a particular biological expression, what specifically is "moral" about those choices? It seems to suggest that human morals are little more than happy accidents of evolution, which is a view which is less than satisfying to many, regardless of their religious beliefs. (And it quickly succumbs to arguments about moral relativism, "Why is a lion's desire to eat us less morally justified than our desire to prevent it from doing so?")

The question is not can we be good without God, but how are we truly "good" without God in a truly moral sense. I often hear the POV of the OP, but it's only half an argument. I've yet to see someone complete the other half.


(And there are plenty of books out there which have attempted to do so. Alas, I haven't read most of them.)