Three better questions than “Can we be good without God?”

During my recent interview with Janet Parshall, an atheist called in and asked why we need God to be good. He argued that we don’t need a book or some God to teach us how to be nice and decent people. He, of course, is not alone regarding this belief. But the question “Can we be good without God?” is the wrong question to ask. There are three better questions to ask.

1) What is good if God doesn’t exist?

You see, when the atheist claims that we can be good without God, they are assuming we already know what is “good.” But what is it? How do we define goodness and badness? Answering this isn’t as easy as you might think. Is goodness happiness, pleasure, or fulfilled desires? Is it all three? Just one? How do you define these concepts? Do we all experience these things the same way? And why are any of them worthy to judge our actions and attitudes and declare them either good or bad? These questions keep on going, by-the-way, and none of them are quickly answered.

2) Why should I be good if God doesn’t exist?

“Can I be good?” assumes “Should I be good?” is already answered. But this is another challenging question. There is no compelling interest to be good in an atheistic universe beyond self-interest. What happens, though, when my self-interest directs me to go against the rules society has established? Why should I be good when being bad benefits me? You might say that society couldn’t function if everyone just did what they wanted and that we have to work together for any of us to flourish. Okay fine. But what if I was clever enough to exploit this system without anyone knowing? Or what if I was powerful enough to enslave others and create a society that benefits who I want it to benefit? Am I doing something wrong in either case? To what standard are you appealing? Working together is motivated by the self-interest of the weak. What happens when I am the strongest?

3) Why should I accept your view of goodness?

To be good, we need a metaphysical foundation (what is good?) and a moral motivation (why be good?). Atheism must provide these two things along with epistemological justification (how do we know good?) if its ethical framework is going to survive. What many atheists do, however, is ignore these questions or borrow answers from the Christian worldview, hoping nobody notices. Don’t let them do that.

We often make the mistake of taking on the burden of proof when we shouldn’t. The claim that we can be good without God is a big claim. Make the atheist defend their position before you argue yours. But don’t be a jerk about it. Respectfully ask how they justify their belief that goodness is knowable and universal. What good reasons do they have to believe that goodness is something objectively true and discoverable by all people such that we can have agreement. Then sit back, listen, learn, and see if their argument has any merit. I think you and your atheist friend will both see how if God doesn’t exist, the reasons to be good are quite bad.