Tag: Atheism & Morality

Do We Need God to Know That Eating Your Sister Is Wrong?

📘 About This Series

This post is part of a daily response series to The Problem of God: Answering a Skeptic’s Challenges to Christianity by Mark Clark. The series critically engages with each chapter and section of the book, examining Clark’s arguments through the lens of reason, historical evidence, and The God Question’s core philosophy: what’s true doesn’t fear investigation.

Today’s post responds to content found in pages 45-47 of the book — the section titled “What If They Ate Your Sister?”

If you’re just joining us, you can view all prior entries in this series on The God Question blog at https://godordelusion.com/the-god-question/. The God Question is a blog that investigates Christian claims with clarity, courage, and calm. We believe truth can withstand scrutiny—and that real meaning doesn’t require pretending to know what we don’t.

Can we know that something is morally wrong—even if we don’t believe in God?

Mark Clark doesn’t think so.

In Chapter 2 of The Problem of God, Clark tells a story from his time at Michaels craft store. An atheist co-worker claimed that morality is culturally constructed. To test him, Clark asks: “What if a jungle tribe tortured and ate your sister? Could you really say that’s wrong?” The implication is clear: If you don’t believe in objective morality, you must accept that cannibalism is just a matter of taste.

But this argument falls apart under scrutiny.

It relies on shock—not reason. Clark knows we’ll recoil in horror at the idea of someone eating a loved one. That horror, he argues, proves the existence of a moral law, which in turn proves the existence of a lawgiver—God.

But this is emotional sleight of hand. Just because something feels deeply wrong doesn’t mean it requires a supernatural explanation. Our moral instincts are real—but they’re also explainable through biology, psychology, and culture. Evolution favors cooperation and empathy. We’ve learned, over centuries, that causing harm leads to chaos.

Clark’s argument also creates a false choice: Either you believe in God, or you believe nothing is really wrong. That’s simply not true. Secular ethics offers a rich tradition of moral reasoning based on harm reduction, shared values, and reason—not divine command.

And ironically, history shows that religious people—including Christians—have often used “God’s law” to justify moral atrocities: slavery, holy war, racism, subjugation of women. These weren’t moral advances—they were cultural norms disguised as divine mandates.

So the real question is this: Do we need God to explain why torturing people is wrong?

No.

We need empathy, intelligence, and a commitment to human dignity. And those are available to believers and non-believers alike.

A clear, clever breakdown of moral development from a secular point of view.

Does Morality Require God?

Welcome back to The God Question.

For centuries, religious believers have argued that morality is impossible without God—that without a divine being to dictate right from wrong, humans would have no ethical foundation. Some even claim that without God, morality becomes subjective, meaningless, or chaotic.

But is this true? Do we really need God to be moral?

Secular philosophers, scientists, and historians argue that morality is a product of human evolution, social cooperation, and reason—not divine command. If this is the case, then moral values can exist independently of religion, and we don’t need a supernatural authority to tell us what’s right and wrong.

So, who’s right? Let’s break it down.

1️⃣ The Religious Argument: No God, No Morality

Many believers hold that without God, morality collapses. This idea is often based on one (or both) of the following beliefs:

📌 The Divine Command Theory

🔹 Morality comes directly from God—what’s right is what God commands, and what’s wrong is what God forbids. 🔹 Without God, there would be no objective right or wrong—only personal opinions.

This belief is central to many religious traditions. For example:

✔ Christianity teaches that moral laws are derived from God’s nature and revealed through scripture (e.g., the Ten Commandments).

✔ Islam holds that Allah is the ultimate source of morality, and right and wrong are defined by the Quran and Hadith.

📌 The “Moral Chaos” Argument

🔹 Without God, morality would be subjective and meaningless.

🔹 If we decide morality for ourselves, then who’s to say murder or theft are wrong?

🔹 Atheism leads to moral relativism, where anything could be justified.

To many believers, the idea of a moral framework without God seems impossible—or even dangerous.

But does this argument hold up?

2️⃣ The Euthyphro Dilemma: A Major Problem for Divine Morality

The Euthyphro Dilemma, first posed by the Greek philosopher Plato, challenges the idea that morality depends on God. It asks:

📌 Does God command things because they are good, or are things good simply because God commands them?

If the first option is true (God commands what is already good), then morality exists independently of God—which means we don’t need Him to define it.

If the second option is true (morality is whatever God commands), then morality becomes arbitrary. God could declare murder, torture, or slavery to be “good”, and we’d have no way to challenge it.

🔹 Either morality exists independently of God, or it’s subjective to His whims.

🔹 Both options contradict the claim that God is the sole source of morality.

3️⃣ Can Atheists Be Moral?

A common claim by believers is that without God, atheists have no moral foundation and therefore cannot be truly good.

But is this true? Let’s look at the evidence:

✔ Atheist-majority countries (like Sweden, Denmark, and Japan) have lower crime rates, higher social trust, and stronger human rights protections than many deeply religious nations.

✔ Atheists and secular individuals are just as likely—if not more likely—to support values like fairness, compassion, and justice.

✔ Secular ethical systems, such as humanism, emphasize morality without belief in the supernatural.

The data suggests that morality is not dependent on religion—people can and do act ethically without believing in God.

4️⃣ The Evolution of Morality: A Natural Explanation

If morality doesn’t come from God, where does it come from?

📌 Science offers a compelling answer: morality evolved as a social survival mechanism.

Human beings are social creatures. To thrive, early humans had to develop:

✔ Empathy – Understanding and caring for others’ feelings.

✔ Reciprocity – Treating others fairly so they treat you fairly in return.

✔ Cooperation – Working together for mutual benefit.

These traits helped our ancestors form communities, trust one another, and survive. Over time, societies developed moral codes based on these instincts—not because of divine command, but because they worked.

Even animals display moral-like behavior:

✔ Chimpanzees share food and console distressed companions.

✔ Elephants grieve their dead.

✔ Dolphins protect injured members of their pod.

This suggests that morality is rooted in biology and social cooperation, not religion.

5️⃣ Religious Morality Isn’t as “Objective” as Believers Claim

Believers often claim that religious morality is absolute and unchanging—but history proves otherwise.

✔ Slavery was once justified by the Bible (Ephesians 6:5, Leviticus 25:44-46).

✔ Women’s rights were long suppressed by religious doctrines.

✔ Moral views on war, punishment, and sexuality have evolved drastically over time.

If morality came solely from God and was unchanging, why do religious moral values shift over time?

📌 In reality, morality evolves based on human reasoning and cultural progress.

6️⃣ Secular Morality: A Better Alternative?

If we don’t need God for morality, what do we base it on?

📌 Humanism offers a framework for secular morality, rooted in:

✔ Compassion – Minimizing harm and suffering.

✔ Reason – Making moral decisions based on evidence and consequences.

✔ Autonomy – Respecting individual rights and freedoms.

Unlike religious morality, which often relies on ancient texts and authority, secular morality:

✔ Adapts to new ethical challenges (e.g., human rights, medical ethics, technology).

✔ Doesn’t rely on faith, but on reason, empathy, and evidence.

🔹 Being good doesn’t require belief in God—it requires care for others, ethical reasoning, and a commitment to fairness.

📌 Conclusion: Morality Exists Without God

✔ We don’t need God to be moral. Morality arises naturally through evolution, social cooperation, and human reasoning.

✔ The Euthyphro Dilemma challenges the idea that God is the source of morality.

✔ Atheists and secular societies demonstrate strong moral values—often equal to or better than religious societies.

✔ Religious moral codes have changed over time, proving they aren’t absolute. ✔ Secular morality, based on empathy and reason, provides a strong ethical foundation without supernatural beliefs.

📌 Bottom line: We don’t need divine commandments to be moral. We just need to care about each other.

📌 What to Read Next

📺 Why I Left Religion After 60 Years of Faith (My personal deconversion story and what led me to question my beliefs.)

📺 Does Prayer Really Work? (Analyzing whether prayer has real-world effects or is just confirmation bias.)

💡 What do you think? Can morality exist without God? Let’s discuss in the comments!