Good and Evil

One of the arguments levelled at atheists by theists is; how can you have morals without God? The answer is simple, in fact, the requirement of a God for morals to exist is in fact a far more worrying prospect.

We have to consider that the human race is the result of 4 billion years of evolution. In order for us to be here now, as a product of this evolution, human beings must have developed traits in order for us to survive as a species. Every form of life seeks to survive, even the smallest living cell is required to live and subsequently reproduce. So it is that co-operation with other living things increases our chances of survival. The living cells within our body co-operate with each other to become something greater; us. So we live as a result of the co-operation of all the cells within our body, and so do those cells live. We as humans, co-operate with each other to create a society and thus improve our chances of survival. We have a set of rules by which we live, because we need our society to survive for us to survive. We should not kill, not because some kind of God says so, but because nobody wants to be killed themselves. I do not want people to steal my possessions and so I do not steal those of others. It is by encouraging everyone else to live by these rules that we can further secure our own survival. This concept is further cemented by the fact that we feel the emotion of empathy.

This is how morals have developed within society; it is evolutionary traits amongst us that have engineered so called morals. There is no such thing as good and evil, right or wrong, these are just words. It is frightening in fact to think that many people do not kill or do not steal, because they think God has told them not to, and not because they simply should not do it. However perhaps as a whole, for the evolution of society; it has been necessary for religion to exist to enforce these rules. As much as it is fair to say that we co-operate with each other to the benefit of society as a whole; humans still have an inherent selfish nature to ensure one’s own survival above all others. Thus the fear of retribution from a higher power for breaching society’s laws can be seen as further strengthening their application. Of course no method is perfect and thus with religion we have the converse effect with people who kill because they believe they are doing God’s work.

So there is a trade off, but religion is still essentially irrelevant. There is a perfectly logical reason for the existence of morals that does not involve any kind of supernatural power. The belief in such a supernatural power, may or may not have aided in the application of these rules; regardless though such belief exists though it should not be suggested as a reason for right and wrong.