Can We Be Good Without God?

Of course there could be people who could be good without God. There could be people who could be good who believe that extra- terrestrials visit them nightly. You can be good if you think that the earth stands on the back of a turtle. There were good pagans. There were good people who worshipped animals. In theory, you can be good and believe in anything, it is even very possible to be evil with God. "Research suggests that a religious person is more likely to commit a crime than a non-religious person" (63).

I am not a religious person but I do believe in God, and I am under no elution that God does play a role in our lives when it comes to ethics. But I am the first to acknowledge that there are quite a number of religious people who are disgusting. God is not the source of morality, man is. Man is a learning animal. Man is capable of learning from his mistakes, "The human race is divided roughly between good people, who possess the infinite worth we attribute to individuals, and bad people, who do not" (75). For example, there was a time when slavery was acceptable and anti-semitism was tolerated. But because of mans ability to learn these views are no longer excepted in society today. The fact that humans are naturally moral beings doesn't tell us what our morality should be. It is true that we are aggressive at times, and it is even more true that thanks to our technology we can and sometimes do wreak the most terrible consequences on our fellow humans. Unfortunately man only learns when faced with a grim situation where he finds no option but to change. It takes war and thousands and even millions of deaths to give up slavery, and anti-semitism. It takes climate change to really consider cutting greenhouse gas emissions. It takes recession to make people think twice of living beyond their means. I think man ultimately chooses to be good and change his or her way of life for the better. 

Works Cited

Conyers, Lisa and Harvey, Philip D.. “Religion and Crime: Do They Go Together.” Academic Communities/Disciplinary Conventions. Ed. Bonnie Beedles and Michael Petracca. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2001. 62-67.

Tinder,Glen. "On the Political Meaning of Christianity." Academic Communities/Disciplinary Conventions. Ed. Bonnie Beedles and Michael Petracca. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2001. 68-88.