Sunday, 21 September 2014

The Morality Anthology

Over the years I have been asked to explain how morality works in various discussions with Christian Apologists.    This blog contains several explanations, with some overlaps, so here is a summary of the morality-related posts:


1) A Universal Moral Standard
  • This addresses the questions of how it's possible to have moral standards without God or Scripture and why one doesn't need God to be a good person.

2) The Moral Consequences of Atheism by JL Mackie
  • Religious apologists sometimes claim that atheism results in a lack of morality or even the end of civilisation. This myth has been dealt with by countless philosophers and authors, as in this essay by J. L. Mackie.

3) Explaining Morality to Christian Apologists
  • This post addresses the Christian apologist claims that moral relativism is a philosophy (when it's actually an empirical fact) and atheists don't know right from wrong (hen they obviously do!)

4) The Moral Argument - Refuted
  • In his "Handbook of Christian Apologetics", Peter Kreeft provides 20 arguments for the existence of God, including what he calls "The Moral Argument".  This post highlights the flaws in his argument. 

5) Why I am an unbeliever by Carl van Doren
  • Carl Van Doren was professor of English at Columbia University and a biographer of Benjamin Franklin. In this essay he confronts the tired, old argument that without faith there can be no foundation for ethics.

6) Morality does not come from scripture
  • A Christian Apologist argues that morality comes from the Bible (thereby giving him ownership of the moral high ground). This post explains how his argument is back to front in that religion and scripture are defined by human morality. It also explains the biological and cultural origins and development of morality. 

7) Christian apologists don't get moral relativism
  • A Christian apologist attacks atheism by equating it with Moral Relativism, and then defines Moral Relativism as an extreme form of morality where anything goes. So that's two mistakes for the price of one!

8) An Objectivist Point of View
  • An explanation of "moral standards" from an objectivist point of view.






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