It is commonly objected when theists present The Moral Argument for God’s Existence that atheists are just as capable of being moral as theists. Of course this retort is a total misunderstanding of the Moral Argument altogether. Note the following argument:
If objective moral values exist then God exists.
Objective moral values exist.
Therefore God exists.
It seems very commonly, despite the fact that the argument says no such thing, that atheists think theists are saying “In order to behave morally one must believe in God.” But look again carefully at the above argument. Does it say that? No. I really have a hard time understanding why so many intelligent atheists seem to miss the point of the argument. I mean I understand if they want to try and reject the argument and attempt to defeat either premise one or two but I don’t understand why they constantly fail to understand the argument itself.
The point of the argument is to say that the only sufficient ground for the existence of objective moral values (that is to say, moral values that are true for all people, places and times) is the existence of God. If God does not exist then there is no sufficient ground for objective moral values and moral values become necessarily subjective (that is to say moral values are reduced to personal or societal opinions and there is no reason for them to be binding on the conscience of anyone).
What this argument is not saying is that you must believe in God for objective moral values to exist. Actually any theist worth his salt would tell you that your belief in God or your belief that there is no God has absolutely no affect whatsoever on the reality of whether or not objective moral values exist. If objective moral values exist the they simply do regardless of what you think or believe about anything. If they don’t exist then they simply don’t regardless of what you think or believe about anything. That objective moral values exist is either true or false just like the claim “God exists” is either true or false, no amount of belief in them or belief against them actually changes anything.
The point is only that if objective moral values do exist then God also exists. They are inseparably tied together. If you concede that objective moral values exist then you are in a corner and have to give in that God necessarily exists as well. The reverse is also true. If you concede that God does not exist then you necessarily concede that objective moral values do not exist either. Simply put, if God exists then rape, murder and theft are objectively morally wrong. If God does not exist then rape, murder and theft are not objectively morally wrong, they are at best distasteful to you and socially taboo.
I think this argument holds and is indeed very strong. But do you see how it is not the case that theists are not saying you have to believe in God to behave morally? You can be a perfectly moral person and an atheist. Your belief that God is not real does not make you immoral (aside from the fact that we as Christians would see your rejection of God as immoral itself). But you can be faithful to your spouse, help old ladies cross streets, give to charity, never lie to anyone, etc., etc., and be an atheist. You can behave morally as an atheist. Clear? I hope so.
We are also not saying that theists behave in a morally superior way. Indeed there have been many immoral theists throughout history and Christians believe all of us are morally impaired and thus need Jesus Christ as our savior. There are theists who have lied, cheated, stolen and killed in cold blood. So this argument is not about theism guaranteeing moral superiority to atheism.
The point is simple and I hope you apprehend it. If objective moral values exist then they do so because God exists as the sufficient ground for them. If God does not exist then there is no sufficient ground for objective moral values and therefore objective moral values do not exist.
But although we are not arguing that belief in God is necessary for moral behavior it is the case that no one is able to behave morally if God does not exist. See the difference? Belief is not necessary, but God himself is. If it is the case that there is no God then it is also the case that you are not capable of being good. This is true for theists and atheists alike because what we believe about God makes no difference. The brute fact is what matters and if God does not exist then calling someone or some act or behavior good or bad loses all objective meaning.
If there is no God then self sacrificing to help the poor or save someone from drowning is not good, it’s just an act that you have emotions about. Raping children is not evil or bad if there is no God, it’s just something you strongly emote against. You can’t be good without God. You can’t be bad without him either. All actions are morally neutral and individuals and societies can merely react to them emotionally but not objectively.
So the questions are simple:
Do objective moral values exist? If your answer is yes then you must confess that God exists.
Does God exist? If your answer is no then you must confess that there are no objective moral values.
