Morality Without God

Running Head: MORALITY WITHOUT GOD
MORALITY WITHOUT GOD
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Author Note

MORALITY WITHOUT GOD1
It is believed that any system of morality that is not deeply rooted in the foundation of
faith and belief in God, will eventually cease to be. However this raises the very question that
makes us wonder if God really exists. Belief is relative, and the ones with faith must be
allowed to retain their faith, so it’s important to address the system of morality, removed
from the background in which the existence of god plays the supreme role and caused people
to overlook the bigger picture in which humans are actively involved. Through this essay, I
will examine if God is actually the foundation of morality, to show that he is not as humans
determine morality based on social events and their results.
If morality needed a supreme leader to hold the foundation in place, then it leads us to
ask, why god? Why not someone else? Why not anybody powerful enough to ensure that they
become vessels of humanity’s hope. This can be further explained by the various religions
coexisting on this planet. Prophet Mohammed or Jesus Christ were garbed in mortality as
messengers of Allah or God, who spread the word of God, was it was them, the people
followed, not just what God preached. This can be seen in case of Nazis. Nazism had
pseudo-religious aspects, held up by The Holy Reich. Hitler had faked his investment in
Christianity, yet managed to grab onto an army and German sentiments, through his skills as
an orator and dictator. Morality is anything people deem correct at a certain period of time, if
seen from the perspective of the people who believe so.
Humanity comes with the sense of relativity, every other human has his own set of
personal values, which is necessary for someone to build their own system of values. The
world today is willing to build an ethical system which is based on the pillars of tolerance
along with enlightenment (Nielsen 1982). Rules that cannot be bent or broken to suit
humanities’ needs will inevitably give rise to feelings of claustrophobia and people will be
willing to break free from it. God’s morality is what they call, ‘ideal’ in all cases and humans
are bound to make flaws, twist roads and commit what is apparently called ‘sins’ because that

MORALITY WITHOUT GOD2
is the way humans are. Morality gives natural phenomenon’s an evil edge, which
unnecessarily invites negativity.
Considering that God is the very base of morality, it is believed that whatever God
does is moral (Copan 2004). If this is so absolute then why do we sing praises for what he has
done, and continued to do the same had he done just the opposite. If truth is moral and God
lies at some point of mankind, does it make lies moral and truth, immoral? Had God deemed
Adultery as something moral, would unfaithfulness become immoral? And if whatever he
says, he does. Then adultery would not even have existed and neither would lies. If his
decisions show arbitrariness, he cannot be worshipped, because humans are as arbitrary as he
is, he in reality, does not deal in absolutes.
It also has to be considered that Goodness is a defining attribute of God, then God
cannot be the definition of goodness which is the very base of Morality (Nagel 1994).
However, his goodness can also be questioned by raising ethical questions, be it the burning
issue of burkha which is mandatory for Muslim women but is questioned by people around
the world as regressive and as something that limits women and makes them hide who they
are. God had told Prophet Mohammed that Women must remain behind a ‘purdah’ or veil to
be secluded from public observation that leads us to ask, that if humans are the creation of
God and God is always right, why does the public look at women with lust? If God was
moral, why are his men lecherous and why does he make women suffer?
Humans have been living on earth since 200,000 years, which they inhabited, made
comfortable, and evolved all the while contributing to civilization. Then, why is the earliest
intervention by God, eons later, according to the Bible? He orders complete Genocide
through the hands of Joshua just because his shadows embodies flaws? Was the genocide,
moral? If killing is immoral and morality is absolute, why does God himself bend his rules?