Neverside

Can we be good without God?

I come before you this late evening with a topic on which I'll have to write an essay on in a couple of months for my senior Philosophy class

Can we be good without God?

I believe that we can. I am not debating whether God exists or not, but I believe that every individual chooses his/her own path. 'Good' is one of the many things that we can do, just like accepting God into our lives or not. It's a choice, and every one makes their own choices, regardless of their faith.

I Googled some views stating that without God we do not have a strong conscience, and do not fear reprisal for our evil - and therefore we do no good. I oppose that, saying that the people who think that way do not truly believe in God, but use it to shelter their true actions and clear their conscience of their own personal hell.

From a philosophical standpoint, your question needs refinement. Are you asking can we be good without God (i.e. by nature, good) or can we do good without God?

Also, because this is philosophical in nature, please define "good".

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Last edited by Celldss, September 29th, 2005 04:08 AM (Edited 1 times)

It's hard to predict because even those who don't believe in god are affected culturally by the standards brought from religion. IMO, religion is useful even if I don't follow it .

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There is a limit to stupidity, and people keep crossing it.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1798944,00.html

'nuff said.

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I don't believe in God, and I'm awesome.

So, yes.

Quote:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1798944,00.html

'nuff said.

I checked out the PDF, that the study came from. It's not very impressive, it is just a first study though and I look forward to more studies; just don't be so sure of this yet.

In relation to the topic, do we have freewill? If we do then yes we can do/be good with or without God. (I could go on a bit more and get a bit deeper but I got some work to do)

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yes, it depends on your inherent genetic morality.
If you have none then you do need religion to keep you in check.

i am not religious yet I find that I have extremely high morals relatively to others.

"Religion is the opiate of the masses"

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You don't need God in order to have faith in, for instance, the fact that people are inherently good or that morality is the right path.

I agree that everyone chooses their own path. It isn't God that chooses it for them. Therefore we are completely responsible for our actions, both good and bad.

Sure we can. Human goodness was around long before the current idea that most people have of what "God" is, which in my opinion is still archaic (but that's another debate entirely).

Religion (in any of it's various forms) exists in part to provide a moral code for it's followers. To suggest that human goodness might not exist sans religion is preposterous. Where would these religions have gotten the idea of human goodness from if it had not existed beforehand?

Oh, just to elaborate - what do you mean by "good"? Good for me, or good for others?