Edward Tabash
Attorney at Law
Honorary Chair, Center for Inquiry-LA 
 

GOODNESS WITHOUT GOD
 

1. MORALITY DERIVES FROM HUMAN GROWTH AND EXPERIENCE. HUMAN BEINGS INVENTED THEIR PROHIBITORY CONCEPTS AND THEN CREATED A GOD OR GODS IN WHICH TO DEPOSIT THE SUPPOSED ORIGIN OF MORAL PRECEPTS THAT PEOPLE, THEMSELVES, DEVELOPED.
 

2. BIBLICAL ATROCITIES RENDER THE BIBLE AN UNFIT SOURCE FOR ETHICAL CONDUCT TOWARD OTHERS:

God orders killing of innocent Children: 1 Samuel 5:3.  If a virgin is raped, she must marry the rapist: Deut 22:28-29.  In other cases if a woman is not a virgin when she gets married, she is to be stoned to death: Deut 22:20-21.  Rape as spoils of war: after conquering the Midanites, Moses ordered his men to kill all the non virgins and keep the virgins for themselves: Numbers 31:17-18.  When God has delivered up the enemies to God’s favored armies, they are to kidnap and rape virgins and keep them as wives and if not satisfactory to the conquering solider, the captive women are then to be turned loose: Deut 21:10-14.  The Bible requires that women be ruled over by their husbands, with no exception for cases in which the wife is the more intelligent of the two: Genesis 3:16.  Gay men who make love with each other are to be executed, Levit 20:13.  Women are to learn in silence and not be permitted to teach because Adam was created  before Eve: 1 Timothy 2:11-13.  The fearful and unbelieving shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, Revel 21:8.
 

3. DOES GOD COMMAND COURSES OF ACTION BECAUSE THOSE ACTIONS ARE INTRINSICALLY GOOD, OR IS SOMETHING ONLY GOOD IF GOD COMMANDS IT?

This was the classic “Euthyphro” dilemma, outlined by Plato, around 380 B.C. The question raised is whether a god or the gods order something to be done because it is the right
thing to do, independently of whether or not, God approves of it. Or, is something morally good only because God chooses to command it; and, thus even the most atrocious action would be
morally proper if God commands it, as the very definition of goodness would then be whether or not something is commanded by God.
 
If a morally desirable course of action is intrinsically the right thing to do, then it will be the right thing to do, irrespective of whether God orders it to be done.  In fact, God is then
ethically bound to command that course of action because its properties of moral goodness stand independently of God and this course of action is good, in itself.  God orders that it be done
because it is the morally proper thing to do, regardless of God’s views on the subject.  Within this framework, goodness is not dependent upon God.
           
If goodness is only defined by whatever God chooses, then morality is arbitrary depending on God’s whim.  So, the mass murders in the Bible are then morally correct, as is the Biblical mandate of the subordination of women.   Executing someone for no more than doing work on the Sabbath, Exodus 31:15, would also be morally proper, as long as God orders it.  So would be killing everyone in the city in which you live who worships any other god, Deut 13:12-15.

4. DIVINE HIDDENNESS: A GOD THAT WANTS US TO BELIEVE AND HAVE RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM/HER/IT WOULD DIRECTLY REVEAL ITS EXISTENCE AND PROVIDE ENOUGH EVIDENTIARY PROOFS SO THAT NON BELIEF AND GRAVE DOUBT WOULD NOT BE REASONABLE.

A loving God that wants us to relate to that God and that wants us to follow divine edicts and decrees would directly reveal its existence in such a way as to make non belief and grave
doubt unreasonable.  So, such conditions of reality as no actual proof, ever, of any supernaturalevent; the dependence of consciousness on a functioning brain making life after death highly
improbable; no evidence of how a disembodied mind could function, in the absence of body and brain, making a god concept hard to fathom; the presence of so much unexplained evil in the
world; and the ongoing failure of anyone or any  being to duplicate Biblical-style miracles, along with the apparent ironclad laws of nature that show no signs of yielding to the occurrence of supernatural events, all make belief in a God extremely problematic.  The more difficult belief in a God is, the more difficult attributing the ultimate source of moral conduct to that God becomes.
 
Flaws in the Bible contribute to the reasonableness of non belief.  If God exists, then we could expect a reliable revelation. The Bible, as shown above, is so morally flawed that it is not
sufficiently trustworthy as a fount of morality.  Also, the Bible contains scientific error that cast doubt on any claim of supernatural knowledge. In Genesis 1:11-12, plants and trees were created before the Sun, Genesis 1:16.  Plants and trees cannot come into being unless there is already sunlight shining upon the earth.  Also, the Bible says that the stars were not created until after the earth was formed, Genesis 1:16.  Planets cannot come into being unless there are preexisting stars that explode as super novae and the dust and debris from the exploding star or stars coalesces into a planet.
 
5. HONEST STRUGGLE TO FIND THE BEST COURSE OF ACTION IN THE DIFFICULT AND MESSY CIRCUMSTANCES THAT WE FIND IN LIFE IS SUPERIOR TO RECOURSE TO ANCIENT SUPERSTITION AND FANTASY.

WE MAY NOT HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS FOR EVERY SITUATION, BUT A GOOD FAITH EFFORT, CALLING UPON HUMAN EXPERIENCE TO FIND SOLUTIONS, IS PREFERABLE TO INVENTING AN IMAGINARY BEING IN WHICH TO LOCATE OUR PERSONAL PREFERENCES AND PREJUDICES.  
                      

Article 2: The Evidence