Resources

Throughout human history, both the religious and non-religious have exhibited the capacity for doing good works. But when we turn to the question of universal moral obligations of goodness, does atheism hold up? Without a belief in God, there is a ceiling to how far goodness can reach.

• View Transcript

  Fyodor Dostoevsky famously wrote in one of his novels, “If God does not exist, then everything is permitted.” He seemed to suggest that if there is no God, then there's nothing to prevent us from using, abusing, and exploiting one another for our own selfish gain. Many atheists, however, would push back and say, “Dostoevsky was wrong. He's gone too far. You don't need to believe in God to affirm that everyone has a universal moral responsibility to treat every other human being with respect and care.” So who's right? Can we be good without God?

  There's no question that atheists can be good people and live good lives despite not believing in God. The evidence from daily life speaks for itself. Many non-believers live such good lives that they put believers to shame. There's no debate about that. So let's sharpen the question. The real issue is not whether atheists possess the capacity for being good, but whether atheism as a philosophy provides a rational reason for the kinds of goodness that we value. In other words, just because someone does good doesn't mean they have good reasons for doing so. That's why the sociologist Christian Smith would say that many contemporary atheists are guilty of overreach. Atheism as a philosophy can support a modest standard of goodness, but this standard falls far short of a universal moral responsibility to promote the well-being of everyone. 

  So here's what I mean. One person might say, “I believe everyone has a moral duty to advance the good of every other human being on the planet.” But a reasonable person could reply by saying, “Well, if there is no God, I can see why I should be good to people who are close to me, who directly affect my own well-being, but there's no compelling reason why I should care about people who, for all practical purposes, are irrelevant to my own life and happiness.” So do you see that? Atheism doesn't provide an explanation for a universal standard of goodness that applies to all people in every situation, without exception. 

  A purely naturalistic view of the world assumes that there is no God, no plan, no purpose, no design. This world is simply the result of blind natural forces focused on the replication of DNA. DNA is all there is. So if this life is defined as survival of the fittest, well then we should expect the strong to devour the weak. We should expect the powerful to destroy the vulnerable. And we should view that as normal rather than as a problem. Evolutionary theory might explain why we should be good to those who are closest to us, but it provides no rational reason for why we should care about everyone everywhere. The best that atheism can do is promote a kind of enlightened self interest that motivates you to do good to your family or your immediate community, because it will likely benefit you in the end. But atheism fails to provide an explanation for universal moral obligations of goodness. 

  Why should we show kindness and compassion to everyone? Why do we think it's more noble to endure suffering than to inflict it upon others? Where'd we get the idea that we have a responsibility to defend the weak or to protect the vulnerable? Those convictions did not arise out of atheism. They came from the Scriptures. Christianity teaches that human beings are not accidents, but rather every one of us is created in the image of God, and as a result, every single person is imbued not just with dignity but equal dignity, and possesses an inherent right to be treated in accordance with his or her own word. 

  So yes, we can have good reasons to be good without God in a very limited sense, if we focus primarily on people who affect us directly, but if we espouse a universal moral duty to promote the flourishing of every human being, no matter who they are, we have to recognize that particular vision of goodness is the product of Christianity. You just can't get that from atheism. 

  Written by Jason Harris
  Produced by Jamie Tulenko
  Filmed and edited by Andrew Walker